


True Hans Soul Rebel (Regular Text)

by RebaMacncheese



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Frozen - Anderson-Lopez & Lopez/Lee
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama & Romance, Existential Olaf, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Gay, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Internalized Transphobia, Lesbian Character, No Lesbians Die, Queer Themes, Shakespearean Comedy, Suicidal Thoughts, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27122338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebaMacncheese/pseuds/RebaMacncheese
Summary: ELSA: Who is she?KRISTOFF: Her name is Marie - that’s all we know. Ryder and I found her washed up on the fjord this morning. She said she lost her memories, but I guess some are back now. (bewildered awe) The magical sword-swinging is a *totally* new side of her.Elsa is most intrigued by that.ELSA: (lofty side-eye at Kristoff) Maybe she didn’t share all her sides with you.Regular text edition of THE feature-length Transfemme Hans screenplay. Canon-compliant.Pdf formatted version here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2711329
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna & Hans (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa/Hans (Disney), Hans & Kristoff (Disney), Kristoff & Ryder Nattura, Sven & Original Female Character
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	1. A Shadowplay

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is complete, immaculate and immutable.

PROLOGUE

OPEN ON: **ICE.** Thick, opaque, and subtly illuminated by warm light. At first we see just the glistening texture of fine crystals. Then the light grows brighter, until our whole view is filled with a rosy glow.

**INT. GLACIER - NIGHT**

The gentle firelight is broken up by dancing shadows that are too abstract to impose meaning, but have enough form so we might make our own, as with clouds or swaying leaves.

The shadows change as the firelight flickers and we see clearer, though still fleeting, glimpses of waves, ship masts, and sea birds. We hear gulls' cries and the soft rush of water as if from far away.

Narration begins in sweet feminine tones.

NARRATOR: (V.O.) In the southern isles of the northern seas, there once lived a king and queen.

We have our first unambiguous silhouettes on the ice; two people wearing crowns, one in a dress and one in trousers. They look to each other and smile. 

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) And they were happy. For though their kingdom was humble, they were blessed with a bounty of sons. Twelve princes, all born with warm, open hearts, who filled the castle halls with joy.

A parade of children, all in trousers, gambol across the ice in descending order; the tallest first, and then each shorter than the last. One brandishes a toy sword, another clutches a stuffed bear, one has tousled hair - all are smiling. We hear their laughter from the same far off place as the bird calls and the waves.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) Then the King and Queen had a thirteenth child -

The last and smallest child walks out after the others. Their face is unsmiling and they carry no plaything. The sound of laughter fades.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) - who they named Hans. Hans was different from the rest of his brothers. He was born with a cold heart, closed off to happiness and love.

The fire flickers, and the shadow scene changes. The smallest child sits alone while the others play together. Some of his brothers try to rope him into their games, but nothing works. Hans scowls and gestures for them to leave him alone.

The King and Queen silhouettes enter the scene as the older boys leave, and go to speak with Hans in turn. First, the King approaches him.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O. affecting the stern tones of the King) It upset the King to see something wrong with one of his sons. He told Hans that he ought to go play, be joyful, that there was no reason he shouldn’t be like his brothers!

The King towers over Hans, and Hans just bows his head. The King turns away, expressing frustration and sadness to his wife, who comforts him. The King leaves. Then the Queen comes forward, bending down to Hans’ level.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O. affecting the gentle tones of the Queen) The Queen wasn’t angry at Hans. She told him that happiness doesn’t come so easily for some people, and that’s alright. All it meant was that he had to try a bit harder. If Hans played his part - was a good prince, the same as his brothers - then he would be happy like them too.

She takes his hands.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (as the Queen) You see, Hans? You just have to put on a show!

Hans nods and smiles at her. She hugs him.

The fire flickers, the shadow scene changes, and we see little Hans observing the parade of his smiling brothers.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) Hans watched as his older brothers grew up in turn, each more dashing and fair than the last. One by one, the good princes all left the kingdom to find their places in the world.

The other princes leave on ships, one after the other.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O) Hans listened closely to tales they brought back. They told of how they rescued bright-eyed maidens and slayed witches, and dragons, and witches who turned into dragons. How they found true love and won the thrones of distant lands.

One after another, we see the brothers performing feats of heroism and then being crowned as kings, each with a smiling figure in a dress at his side.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) Hans saw how happy all his brothers were as kings, husbands, and heroes. Hans was sure he had to do all that too, to be happy. 

Hans mimics his brothers’ gestures and demeanor. Poorly at first, but as he grows he gets better and better until he takes center stage as the ideal figure of a charming prince.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) And so, Hans learned how to be a perfect hero. He practiced how to fight, how to stand, how to smile, how to recognize a fair maiden in need and the treacherous villain to save her from.

When Hans at last achieves perfection, he freezes in place and we are pulled out from the ice wall. We see that the shadow of Hans is being cast on the wall by something that hazily fills the foreground.

REVEAL: A finely cut ice sculpture of Hans. He appears as we first met him - standing straight with his shoulders back, with a charming smile and a gloved hand held out invitingly. 

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) Hans grew into the image of an impeccable prince, dashing and fair as any of his brothers. His parents were so pleased. Hans felt ready to go to a new land, find his own tale to tell, and become the man he was meant to be.

We hear little plinks of water dripping in the cave, and a few droplets cross our view. 

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) In the lands to the north, Hans thought he found a place of his own. A princess to save, a witch to slay, and a kingdom to win.

The gentle rosy glow in the cave shifts to a harsh gold heat. Rivulets begin to run down the length of the statue.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) But, somehow, nothing happened the way he thought it would. He failed to kill the witch, he failed to love the princess, and, worst of all, he realized that a life as this kingdom’s perfect prince held no joy for him. Hans’s heart was as cold as ever.

The statue is coming apart as it melts in earnest. The outstretched hand breaks off. All around, we hear ice creaking. 

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O. affecting a bitter, relishing tone) Hans decided then that he wasn’t a hero, after all. He found a different part that he could play - one that didn’t need love or happiness, one that fit him just right.

The statue brutally cracks down the middle, and the halves crash to the floor.

NARRATOR (CONT'D): (V.O.) Or so he told himself — but was it true?

The camera turns down to follow rivulets of melted ice running across the floor of the cave.

Titles appear.

**FROZEN III**

****


	2. Arendellian Spring (Regular Text)

ACT ONE

SEQUENCE A

FADE IN: **WATER.** The golden light on the water shifts to a muted blue. The title fades just above the ocean. We’re looking down as light raindrops hit the restless waves. A thick metal cable swings into view. Something dark and heavy is being drawn out of the depths toward us. 

**EXT. NORTH SEA - EARLY AFTERNOON**

The cable is cranked up to a formidable brig ship by rough looking goons. The skies are moody above their heads and wind gusts chop up the water.

_The goons sing a dark shanty about those who have been lost to the fathoms below; people, ships, and - according to one tale - magic._

_In mythic ages past, great battles were fought between cruel kings on these seas, and legend has it that the powerful Firebird Sword was lost when her knight and their vessel sank in a daring last stand. The frigid depths smothered the sword’s flame, and her path of fiery conquest ended._

GOON 1: (breaking off from the singing) But nothing really ends with magic, does it? Maybe we’ll be the ones to pull up that mighty metal!

GOON 2: _There’s_ some fresh codswallop. This is just the sun-baked scheme of a royal washout.

GOON 3:(chuckling) Eh, but it pays well.

A primitive submarine, large enough for one person, breaks the ocean surface. The shadow of an occupant is visible through a cloudy porthole. The exterior of the sub has mechanical claws, which are empty aside from some strands of seaweed.

GOON 1: (genuine awe) It's a miracle every time this thing comes up in one piece.

GOON 2: (muttering) He nicked it from his mad sister-in-law, you hear? The whole ship is hers too.

The top of the sub opens just before it comes to rest on the deck, and out steps HANS. The prince has let himself go since we saw him last. His eyes have a sinister undershadow and default to a malicious squint. His hair has grown out to shoulder length and his sideburns are luxurious to match. He wears a long imposing cloak, gray and blue like the overcast waves, and thick black gloves.

HANS: (terse) Nothing, as you might gather. A merchant wreck and a swarm of eels, bringing us up to…

Hans makes an expectant, beckoning gesture at Goon 3.

GOON 3: Sixteen drops since we set sail, sir, and not one sign of the Firebird wreck.

HANS: (smirking) And all that progress in so little time.

GOON 1: Prince Hans, a storm is sure to follow these rains. It would be safest for us to take the ship back to port for the night.

Hans ignores Goon 1, and paces the deck. The rippling cloak follows his restless movement.

HANS: So much for the 'daring last stand’. But… (he pauses, considering) If she was retreating…(A thought strikes him) she went down in the _north_.

Hans’ tone shifts at the word “north”. He turns to face the way the wind is blowing, and narrows his eyes at the horizon. 

GOON 1: The _north?_ We’d be sailing straight into the gale!

GOON 3: (Sotto) _Let it be._

GOON 1: (persisting) If we turn around now, we’ll be spared the worst of it!

Hans turns his attention to Goon 1, and gives him a reassuring smile. It’s the same charming look that the old Hans would have, but made uncanny by his new un-charming appearance.

HANS: (kind) You want to be spared the worst of it.

Hans approaches Goon 1, and pats him on the shoulder.

HANS: You say we should go back to port, as it would be a good and safe course of action.

GOON 1: (encouraged) Yes sir, that is my honest opinion.

HANS: Of course. And you imagine this ship to be in the safe hands of a good man.

Hans steps back and gestures broadly, the coat swooshing around him. The other crew members smirk a bit at Goon 1’s expense - they all know what kind of a job this is.

HANS (CONT’D): Furthermore, you believe I hired a gang of goons _not_ for your foolish and amoral temperament, but because I _value your opinions_. 

Hans’ smile becomes more of a manic sneer as he monologues, and the rest of the crew backs away a little. Hans pulls himself back into an affable mirage. He puts an arm around the shoulders of Goon 1, who looks uncomfortable.

HANS (CONT’D): And now that you have made your desires known, you expect _me_ to postpone my _reckless vengeance_ to spare _you_ the worst of it.

GOON 1:(hopeful) Uh… yes?

Hans gives Goon 1 a look that is a mockery of pity.

HANS: (gentle) Oh, if I could, then I would. (nasty) But the truth is that the worst of it is already here, and I haven’t the heart to spare you a thing.

_The first bars of a minor key song begin at the end of his words._

Hans steps back and snarls to the rest of his crew.

HANS (CONT’D): Set the course for the northern coast! We sail at once!

With a sweep of his cloak, Hans crosses the deck and enters the ship’s main cabin.

**INT. MAIN CABIN - EARLY AFTERNOON**

_Hans begins to sing as he broods. It begins subtly, just him talking out loud to the music._

\- As he soliloquizes, we are shown the cabin interior. The character of the space reflects the spunky inventor who created the submarine - full of books, mechanical diagrams, and odd instruments - but the dark atmosphere of Hans’ purpose lends it the feel of an evil lair.

_Hans starts with some notes for himself on his little outburst with the crew. He could have leaned into the final line more, could have meandered less. He worries that it came off as too unstable in an awkward way, and not unstable in a frightening way._

\- There are silhouette portraits of his parents and some of his siblings on the cabin walls. Hans’ furrowed gaze falls on them.

_But no, thinking like that is wrong. He’s not supposed to care about how people see him anymore._

\- Hans turns away from the portraits, angry.

_He spent his whole youth carefully calibrating himself to what people wanted to see, in vain hope to someday get what he wanted from life, and now he’s done with all that pretense. This is who he always was underneath, who he’s meant to be._

\- Through a window in the cabin, we can see the figures of Hans’ crew outside, working to turn the ship.

_The goons are singing again, their chorus about the cold fathoms now serving as back up for Hans’ villainous anthem._

\- There’s a big contemporary map of the north sea taking up one wall. with papers ripped from ancient books and scrolls pinned around it. They depict different accounts of a Viking naval battle, Old Norse translations, illustrations of a sword with runes on the blade, radiating power like wings. Markers have been placed on the big map to show potential locations of the shipwreck - red for ones that haven’t been explored and black for ones that have. The markers are mostly black. Hans replaces another red marker with a black one, and then moves the one he replaced to the coast of Arendelle.

_Hans recalls when he made the decision to give up being what people wanted. He shattered a girl’s heart, left her to die, tried to kill her sister - and he feels no remorse for any of it._

\- We see a black top hat resting on one of the nautical instruments. Hans dons it.

_He told her he did it all for an elaborate plot, that their deaths would somehow have furthered his ambitions. But that whole yarn just made for a better show._

\- There’s a small mirror in the cabin, which becomes crooked as the ship turns. Hans considers himself in it. He adjusts the black hat, so the brim shadows his eyes, and smirks at his dastardly reflection.

_The truth is that he betrayed her because he wanted to and he enjoyed it._

\- Hans exits the cabin and struts around the deck, his long cloak billowing, thunder rumbling overhead.

\- The goons work around him in time to the music.

_This is what joy feels like, right? Letting the ice flow through his veins is freedom, isn’t it?_

_And so, Hans seeks the Firebird sword. He will claim her magic and unleash a power of his own on the Southern Isles, on his eldest brother - the real perfect prince. As the family black sheep, revenge is the natural course for Hans. It’s what brothers do._

\- Hans stands at the prow of the ship as it sails into the wind.

_Hans knows this path of destruction and betrayal must end with him justly vanquished, and he accepts that fate. This is who he is meant to be._

_His song ends, but the music soars, transitioning._

We sweep forward, outstripping Hans and the ship, and fly across the sea, up through the rain clouds, to where smoke is rising in the far north… We descend upon…

**EXT. THE VOLCANIC ISLAND MUNDSPELL - MID AFTERNOON**

A conical mountain, capped with ice and wreathed with clouds, towers before us. It smokes and shudders, close to eruption, but the snow line is expanding. A giant snowflake sigil is set in the glacier at the summit crater and on top of it we see a human figure in a pitched battle of the elements.

It’s ELSA, decked out in a combat-ready variant on her fifth spirit dress, on the back of her elemental horse, the water nokk, in his ice form. Elsa darts around the crater, channeling her powers into the snowflake sigil, bolstering the existing glacier with magic.

Pacifying the volcano is a worthy challenge for her powers on its own, but Elsa must also fend off hostile fire spirits that have escaped through fissure vents. These spirits are salamanders - like the playful forest fire spirit - but the size of carriages. Their skin is dark black and purple, textured like igneous rock, and they belch molten lava at our heroine. 

When she has a moment to breathe, Elsa takes in the view of the distant northern coastline. She sees a storm in the Dark Sea, moving south into the Northuldra lands and towards Arendelle.

_Elsa sings a heroic variation on Hans' anthem._

_The winds are gathering speed, the storm is going to break over the southern lands in the night. Winter storms bring with them painful memories of isolation, abandonment, and loss, and someone is expecting Elsa to be there for her during this one._

\- Elsa conjures a wall of ice, forces the salamanders behind it, and takes a break from the battle. She rides the water nokk a ways down the mountain, and stops where the air is less thin. She dismounts her steed.

_But no, she can’t go just yet. She needs to stay on the mountain and fulfill her purpose as the fifth spirit._

\- Elsa whistles a melody, sending out a call. The intangible wind sylph comes to her from the mainland as a spring breeze carrying loose petals, notes of pollen, and a stray bumblebee.

ELSA: (spoken) Gale, spirit of wind, I need you to take a message.

Gale gambols around her, excited.

ELSA: Are you ready? (firm)

GALE: (whistles affirmatively and hovers in front of her)

_Elsa knows her decision will come as a disappointment, but she doesn’t regret having to stay. She loves being out in the wild with the other spirits, free to push her powers to their limits. Out here, it won’t hurt anyone for her to be herself - indeed her powers are the very source of harmony between magic and the human world._

\- Elsa conjures a fluffy little snow cloud and tosses it to Gale. Gale catches it with an updraft. With a little whistle of her own, the wind sylph carries the cloud away.

_Though her duty is to protect them both, Elsa’s nature means she isn’t a part of the human world - she never truly was. This is where she’s meant to be._

\- Elsa mounts the nokk and rides back up the volcano, to where the salamanders have melted through her barrier.

_Elsa’s piece of the song ends, but the music goes on, transitioning again to a happier, richer tone._

We follow the wind sylph as she carries Elsa’s message down the mountain, across the shallow sea between the volcanic island and the rocky mainland shore, skirting the storm breaking along the Northuldra coast, and past people sheltering themselves and their animals.

_We hear the Norhuldra singing a vuelie chorus._

We see folk in the south working through light rain to prepare for the storm, farmers bringing their livestock inside, ships being brought into port, people closing up their windows.

We follow the wind sylph past the docks, the chapel, all the way up to…

**EXT. ARENDELLE CASTLE COURTYARD - LATE AFTERNOON**

During a break in the rain, Queen ANNA is giving a public address from the castle gates, King KRISTOFF by her side. They are both in a spring variant of their royal formal wear (or at least a suit jacket in Kristoff’s case) - the grassy greens in Anna’s palette brought to the front, with details patterned after budding flowers. Anna’s hair is pulled back in a low bun like her mother’s, Kristoff’s hair falls loose. Both wear their crowns.

ANNA: People of Arendelle, I know we’ve had a long winter and we all hoped things would be warmer by now. But as your queen, when I look out and see the Dark Sea sending a tempest down on us once more, I’m not afraid at all. And do you know why? (She pauses, a little too long)

Um… Well, I’m going to say why anyway, even if you _do_ know, because it’s nice to hear.

_Anna sings a sweeter variation on the opening anthem. She tells her people that she knows when this last stormy night has passed, things are going to get better._

_The seas will calm, crops will bloom, lambs will be born, and spring will come. She knows these things will happen -_

ANNA: (speak-singing) - Not just because they happen every year and it would be pretty weird if they didn’t!

CITIZEN 1: (interjecting from the crowd, but still within the rhythm of the song) Like that one year! When your sister made a cold snap in July and all of our crops died in three days!

ANNA: Right, except for that one weird year.

_Anna resumes singing in earnest. But even that one year, they all got through it together. Elsa brought back summer, and by the fall the yields were bigger than ever!_

CITIZEN 2: (yell-singing) And then last fall you tried to destroy all of our homes in a flood!

CITIZEN 3: (pipes up) Hey, that was a complex situation. The flood _had_ to happen so the giant trolls wouldn’t eat us!

KRISTOFF: (snarky aside) Wow, I missed _a lot_ of what was going on there.

ANNA: (dogged) But we _weren’t_ eaten, or flooded, because Elsa saved Arendelle - again!

_Anna plows ahead and sings of how their friends and family who went missing in the Enchanted Forest have returned, along with a whole new family in their Northuldra brothers and sisters._

\- We see General Mattias - reunited with his beloved, Halima.

\- We see the statue of Anna and Elsa’s parents - the late King and Queen - as children.

_Anna brings the song to an uplifting conclusion. As their queen, when she looks out and sees them all, this amazing family she’s a part of, she knows without a doubt that they’re going to have an amazing year. Because whether there’s flood, or frost, or stormy nights, there will be warm spring days in their hearts as long as they have each other_.

The speech concludes, the crowd cheers, and they start to disperse from the courtyard. Anna beams at them. Kristoff puts a hand on Anna’s shoulder.

KRISTOFF: (quiet) That was incredible - I’m just standing next to you and I was terrified.

Anna takes his hand and squeezes it. We see their rings, set with complimenting pink and green crystals.

ANNA: (whispering back) I couldn’t have done it alone.

KRISTOFF: (teasing, taking off his crown) Yeah, you could have.

Anna turns away from the crowd to look at him.

ANNA: (loving) But I wouldn’t want to.

Kristoff spots something over her shoulder and his eyes widen. Anna looks around and sees… 

ANNA: A message from Elsa!

Gale whistles around the courtyard, bearing the snow cloud. Rain is starting to fall, and the wind sylph blows the clouds past Kristoff and Anna, into the castle. Anna and Kristoff follow her inside. On the foyer, the snow cloud begins flurrying intensely.

ANNA: Do you think she’s coming down early? Maybe she’s bringing a friend and needs extra seating!

KRISTOFF: (restrained skepticism) Maybe.

As the cloud changes phase, a snow figure of Elsa’s head and shoulders takes shape before Anna. It speaks. 

SNOW ELSA: Anna, I love you and I miss you. However -

ANNA: (echoing) _However._

SNOW ELSA: - I won’t make it to Arendelle before the storm. (determined) I know I can seal over Mt. Mundspell by tomorrow, but I’ll have to battle the fire spirits through the night. I hope you understand, and I’ll be with you soon.

When the message concludes, the snow Elsa dissipates, a cold spot in its wake. Gale blows a chilling breeze through Anna and leaves her with a sad whistle. Anna shivers, crestfallen.

OLAF: (O.S.) Anna, Kristoff, are you done with your big speech?

OLAF scampers up to them from inside the castle, accompanied by Sven - who is growing in new antlers. Olaf sees the looks on his friend’s faces.

OLAF: (shocked) Oh no, Anna, you did that badly? Are the masses going to crash the gates? You slip out the back, while I distract them - crowds love watching heads roll. (he chuckles, playfully disconnecting his own head)

ANNA: No no, Olaf, my speech went fine!

KRISTOFF: (putting his crown on Sven’s head and shedding his formal jacket) Elsa won’t be back tonight.

OLAF: (saddened) Oh…

ANNA: Which is also fine! She’s got important spirit stuff to do, and I’ve got important queen stuff to do, and -

OLAF: And she probably hasn’t forgotten our faces.

ANNA: And we’ll see her tomorrow!

_Anna sings a few final bars, reiterating her speech about how the storm won’t be so bad - she’s got Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven, and the whole kingdom here with her. Elsa is where she’s meant to be as the fifth spirit, this is where Anna is meant to be._

We end on Anna with her family, as servants close the castle doors to the worsening rain.

FADE IN: **WATER**

**EXT. ARENDELLE COAST - NIGHT**

We’re at the bottom of the sea, enveloped in darkness. There’s a soft glow emanating from somewhere that lets us feel out the jagged forms of broken wood, iron masts, stray fish and seaweed tendrils. We can pick out the curve of a longship prow, a shroud of seagrass over the figurehead of a snarling dragon.

Then we see it - in a pool of light, lying amongst the detritus of time - the hilt of a sword. The metal is as coated in barnacles and corroded as everything else around it, but beneath all that there’s a hint of steel that echoes the intruding light with a golden gleam. A pair of mechanical claws reach out and clamp down on the ancient metal.

CUT TO: **RAIN.**

**EXT. HANS' SISTER-IN-LAW'S SHIP - NIGHT**

The storm is upon them as Hans’ goons crank up the submarine once more. Sheets of rain slam into the deck and wind pounds the masts. But the goons bear it, and the bizarre vessel resurfaces - this time clutching a treasure in its claws.

GOON 1: (spotting the sword) He really found her! I don’t believe it.

GOON 2: That could be any garbage.

GOON 3: (muttering) Eh, but if it gets us to port quicker.

The claws open and the sword clatters to the deck. Goons 1, 2, and 3 all jump back a bit from the jarring sound. The submarine lid pops open, and Hans emerges. He leaps from the submarine to the deck, sticking the landing on the slick surface.

HANS: (cackling, overdoing it) At last - her power is mine!

Hans grabs the slimy hilt and examines the encrusted blade. The patina is too thick to see the runes from the drawings, if they’re even there.

Hans closes his eyes. Rain continues to clatter on the deck, wind howls, men call orders to each other, but for a moment that racket seems to come from far away. 

Hans takes a breath. He grasps the hilt with both hands. 

HANS: (hushed) Hear me, Firebird, for I claim you by your name.

Runes shine through the corrosion on the hilt/blade. The goons back away in fear. Hans raises the sword above his head, his eyes wild.

HANS: (bellowing above the storm) Heed me, Firebird! For by my hand your blade burns true! 

The sword glows incandescent with feathery wisps of flame. A halo of steaming raindrops surrounds the blade. The hilt burns just as fiercely and smoke rises from Hans’ black gloves. The manic gleam in his eyes shifts to agony.

In an instant, a blinding flash of light spreads out of the sword like wings and white hot fire is all we see.

CUT TO: **INSIDE, LOOKING OUT**

The sword’s blaze, like a little candle at a distance, burns in the middle of a torrential storm.

**INT. ANNA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT**

We see the fire from a window inside Anna’s old childhood bedroom - the one she used to share with Elsa. There’s a single lamp in the room, casting a weak light. Anna is in her nightgown, wrapped in her mother’s shawl. She gazes at the flame on the water, eyes wide.

ANNA: (gasps) Look! Someone's out there.

OLAF: (popping up beside her) Someone glowing. Do you think they’re in trouble?

ANNA: How could they not be?! 

OLAF: Maybe it’s Elsa - she’d be alright.

ANNA: (certain) It’s not Elsa. I’ve never seen her glow like that. It’s probably a distress signal!

OLAF: (quiet) Hang in there, lil’ Glowy.

Anna presses her hands to glass, as if it's the only thing keeping her from diving into the sea after the flame. 

ANNA: (anxious) It must be so dreadful out there, so cold. What if nobody goes to help?

Anna forces herself away from the window. She heads for the door, but then turns, pacing back to the center of the room.

ANNA (CONT'D): (trying to calm herself) But nobody _should_ go, it would only put them in the same danger.

Lightning flashes. Anna flinches and pulls the shawl around her shoulders.

ANNA (CONT'D): (quiet) Maybe the flare isn’t a signal for help. Maybe it’s meant for someone else, who just wants a sign that whoever’s out there is trying to come home.

Thunder claps.

OLAF: The glow is gone.

Anna sharply turns to the window. She stares, desperate to see anything beyond the veil of rain, where the light had been.

ANNA: (pale, breathing deep and quick) They could still be there…

Lightning flashes again - splintering the darkness in stark black and white. For a split second of clarity, Anna sees the ocean, the churning waves caught in time, no ship mast in sight.

Anna flinches back from the window, as if sent by electric shock, and clasps a hand to her mouth in horror. Thunder roars. She screws up her eyes and drops to the floor, clutching her mother’s shawl, shivering. 

ANNA: They're gone… there’s just nothing…

Olaf sees Anna’s distress, thinks for a moment and looks out the darkened window again. Then he grins happily.

OLAF: Anna, Anna, the light came back! Lil Glowy is gonna be alright!

ANNA: (voice muffled in her knees) Olaf, I know you’re lying.

OLAF: (sighs, remorseful) I’m sorry, Anna.

He hops down from the sill and sits next to her, downcast.

OLAF: Now nothing’s better, _and_ I lied to you.

Anna raises her head to look at him. Her eyes are wet, but compassionate.

ANNA: It’s ok. You’re trying to cheer me up, because you love me.

OLAF: (perks up) That’s true! (sheepish) But I guess it didn’t work, huh.

Anna gives him a little smile.

ANNA: Sure it did.

Olaf smiles back, and she leans on him.

Distantly, we hear doors banging open in the castle and shouting.

KRISTOFF: Anna, we’re back with the lamps!

Anna jumps to her feet.

ANNA: (calling) I’m in my old room!

We hear footsteps approaching. The door bursts open, Kristoff is there, holding a large lantern. Sven is behind him with lanterns hanging from his antlers. Anna runs into Kristoff’s arms.

KRISTOFF: (setting down the lantern so he can hug her) Anna, I didn’t know where you went - 

ANNA: I’m sorry, our room is so big when you’re not there -

KRISTOFF: (seeing her eyes are red) You’ve been crying?

ANNA (wiping her eyes) Oh, I’m fine, really. It’s just that before you came in, Olaf and I, we the light of someone’s signal flare, and -

OLAF: (interrupting) It’s still there, completely fine!

ANNA: And now it’s gone again.

OLAF: (in sotto) _Anna, don’t you love him?_

ANNA: Maybe the ship got to safety, and that's why, but… (her eyes look far away) I keep thinking about whoever they were trying to reach…

KRISTOFF: (stroking her hair) Tomorrow, we’ll go down to the port and see if anyone went missing.

Lightning flashes and thunder claps, almost simultaneously. Anna flinches, and Kristoff holds her tight.

KRISTOFF: (picking up the lantern) Come on, let’s go back to our room, and bring every lamp we can carry.

ANNA: (deep breath) Alright.

Anna, Kristoff leave the old bedroom, followed by Olaf and Sven. We watch them go from outside the window, looking in through the rain. We pull out and sweep around to see the front of the castle as the storm rages around it. One of the windows fills with warm candlelight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested listening:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr4qBNYJmV8
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDRWdNn_nLk
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGbsrrkZm1s


	3. Marie

ACT ONE

SEQUENCE B1

**EXT. ARENDELLE CASTLE - EARLY MORNING**

We stay on the castle as the storm passes and the sun rises the next day. The waters are calm, the sky is clear, and the distant mountains are green with new leaves.

A pair of birds in a courtship scuffle flitter past our view. We move with them to where the castle servants are opening windows up. Through one, we see Anna and Kristoff - dressed for the day - in the midst of a quarrel.

ANNA: You said you’d do this for me!

KRISTOFF: Yeah, but I thought we’d visit the port together.

ANNA: (making sure her hair bun is in place) I have a full plate of duties to attend to before Elsa arrives. Unless _you_ want to read all the royal correspondence. 

KRISTOFF: (shudders in horror) Just pour hot wax on me while you’re at it. (snarky)

ANNA: (sighs) Kristoff, my people are your people. You can’t keep avoiding them.

KRISTOFF: It’s not _them_ , it’s all the king stuff they want from me. You know I’m not made for it.

ANNA: Oh c’mon, they’ll love you at the port. You… (she tries to name a publicly appealing aspect of Kristoff) can bring Sven!

KRISTOFF: (joking) Sven didn’t marry you, he doesn’t deserve this!

CUT TO: **CASTLE ENTRANCE**

Kristoff is outside the gates, with Sven. He wears his normal street clothes - no attempt at all to be regal. Anna and Olaf give him a thumbs up from the entrance way.

OLAF: (smiling) You’ve sent that man to his doom. 

ANNA: (loving) Yes, but I want him to try.

Kristoff heads out across the courtyard with Sven, resigned.

KRISTOFF: (to himself) I hate it when she’s like this.

KRISTOFF (CONT'D): (speaking for Sven) She makes you a better person.

KRISTOFF (CONT'D): I know, and it’s the worst.

CUT TO: **SEABIRDS AND SHIP MASTS**

**EXT. ARENDELLE PORT - EARLY MORNING**

The port is full of activity - burly dock workers and fussy port officials see ships off for the day, and a crowd of people prepare to embark on a triple masted brig. They all pause to stare as Kristoff and Sven arrive.

CITIZEN 5: King Kristoff!

DOCK WORKER: (sarcastic) And his royal donkey!

KRISTOFF: (under his breath) My mistake - _this_ is the worst.

All the dock workers and seafarers pause and give an obligatory bow to their monarch and his steed. Kristoff grimaces in deep discomfort.

KRISTOFF (CONT'D): (grumpy, awkward wave) Hello, people. I _am_ your King and my name _is_ Kristoff, so two out of three. Wow, look at all those ships! They sure are here, in the port.

Kristoff turns to leave, but Sven shoves him back around with his nose. The crowd moves forward, pushing to see him, calling out questions.

DOCK WORKER: King Kristoff, will there be another storm?

KRISTOFF: (blunt) Why would I know that?

CITIZEN 5: Is the volcano going to erupt?

KRISTOFF: Elsa said it would be fixed by now…

CITIZEN 3: Will the cannibal trolls come back?

KRISTOFF: (aggravated) Look, I get you all have concerns, but I’m not here to deal with them! I just need to know what ships came in last night.

The crowd falls back a little, muttering reproachfully. The dockmaster comes forward with a logbook.

DOCK MASTER: (tentative) You wish to review the bill of entry, Your Majesty?

KRISTOFF: Yeah, that. (apologetic) Thanks. 

The dockmaster opens the log, and thumbs through it.

DOCK MASTER: Are you looking for a cargo liner or a passenger ship?

KRISTOFF: I don’t know. Anna only saw their signal flare, and she thinks they went down.

DOCK MASTER: (closing the book) Well, if a ship was lost, it wasn’t one of ours. Every vessel bound for Arendelle last night was accounted for.

KRISTOFF: You’re sure?

In the background, we see a group of rough looking goons - bruised and battered, their clothes singed. One of the goons has trouble walking and is supported by two others. They scoot past the King and the dockmaster to board the brig as quickly and casually as possible.

DOCK MASTER: (with civic pride) Absolutely, I verified each entry myself. I hope this report will ease Her Majesty's mind.

KRISTOFF: (uneasy, touching his chest in the spot where Anna's head had rested) Yeah… I hope so, too.

We hear approaching hoofbeats, and then a familiar voice.

RYDER: Hey, Kristoff! Sven!

Kristoff and Sven wheel around, and we see RYDER on a reindeer of his own galloping up to them.

KRISTOFF: (grinning) Ryder!

SVEN: *grunts hello*

RYDER: I went to the castle first, and one of your little stuffy guys sent me here. (he notices the dock master) Uh, sorry - are you in the middle of something important?

KRISTOFF: No worries - I just finished, and it wasn’t even a thing.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (speaking for Sven) Hey, who’s his friend?

Ryder’s reindeer is a lighter brown than Sven, a little smaller, with full antlers.

RYDER: How rude of me. Sven, meet Sonja. Sonja, (he gives her a nudge and a wink) this the fellow I told you about.

RYDER (CONT’D): (speaking for Sonja, in a falsetto reindeer voice) Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sven.

The reindeer blink at each other.

KRISTOFF: (speaking for Sven) Likewise, Sonja. Are you enjoying your visit to my humble fjord?

RYDER: (speaking for Sonja) Your fjord is lovely! Would you be so kind as to give me the tour?

RYDER (CONT'D): (as himself to Kristoff) Y’know, if that’s what _you_ want to do…

KRISTOFF: (noticing the weird looks they’re getting from the Arendellians) By all means! Let’s get out of here.

Kristoff mounts Sven, and he and Ryder ride away from the docks, down the shoreline.

**EXT. FJORD COASTLINE - MORNING**

Kristoff and Sven lead Ryder and Sonja on a leisurely ride along the fjord. Rain water and fallen tree blossoms form puddles along the path, where songbirds peck at stray worms. Sea breezes are still on the cool side, but the morning sun shimmers on the water and lush grasses. 

_We come in closer on Kristoff while he sings a new variation on a familiar tune. Reindeers are better than kingdoms. Ryder joins in, doing his voice for Sonja in duet with Kristoff’s voice for Sven._

They pass by a sandy shore where some recent driftwood has washed up - a chunk of a ship hull, pieces of a sail mast, and bits of odd metal.

RYDER: Uh, is that a… person?

He points down at the shore, a little ways ahead of them, where a body has washed up among some driftwood. We don’t see much at this distance aside from a vague outline and reddish auburn hair.

KRISTOFF: (calling to the body) Hey, are you alive?

The person stirs, faintly. Kristoff and Ryder hurry down to investigate.

The figure is obscured by a large gray cloak, a bit too big for their shoulders and tattered with water damage and scorch marks. As Kristoff and Ryder draw near, the person pushes themselves up, and rubs their eyes. Kristoff sees that she’s a woman. Her face is long with prominent cheekbones and her eyes are light hazel green. Her hands are bare, and the sleeves of the jacket under the cloak have been burned off at the forearm.

Kristoff dismounts Sven, and approaches the woman. Ryder hangs back, investigating the peculiar driftwood.

Sven bounds straight up to the woman and sticks his nose in her hair, sniffing curiously. The woman recoils in surprise.

KRISTOFF: Sven - give her space! (to the woman) Are you alright? What happened?

Sven draws back and the woman looks up at Kristoff, blinking against the sun. She seems overwhelmed by his questions, confused and afraid.

THE WOMAN: (halting) I’m not sure…

KRISTOFF: (gentle) By the look of things, you’ve been shipwrecked. Does that give you any idea?

The woman gazes at the wreckage around her, clutching her face with dawning amazement.

THE WOMAN: (hoarse) Not really. Where is this place?

KRISTOFF: We’re on the Arenfjord, in Arendelle.

Does Arendelle mean anything to you? Were you on your way here?

The woman’s eyes widen, and she looks down the fjord to see the castle in the distance. She shakes her head.

RYDER: (O.S.) Whoa, check this out!

Ryder stands in some driftwood holding up a large sword. The sword is an ancient make, but polished like new. It seems to glow when the blade catches the sunlight.

Kristoff and the woman stare as Ryder brings the sword over to them. He holds it out and Sven grunts at the weapon, wary.

RYDER: (to the woman) Is this thing yours?

THE WOMAN: (intense confusion) No… I’ve never seen it before. (voice cracks)

KRISTOFF: (to Ryder) Put that down, you’re spooking the reindeer.

Ryder sheepishly lowers the sword. The woman starts to rise, unsteadily, and Kristoff helps her to her feet. She’s tall for a woman, which isn’t so noticeable since Kristoff is tall for a man. Ryder takes a skein of water from his rucksack and gives her a drink. She accepts, grateful.

RYDER: I’m Ryder, and he’s Kristoff. (she hands him back the skein) Can you tell us who _you_ are?

THE WOMAN: (concentrating hard) I don’t… think I know…

RYDER: Do you remember _anything_?

The woman doesn’t answer, but suddenly clutches her forehead in pain. Kristoff steadies her with a hand on her shoulder.

KRISTOFF: Hey, whatever happened, it’s over. You’re going to be ok. There’s an outpost nearby, we can get you some new clothes, hot food, maybe a map that can jog your memory -

THE WOMAN: (pulling the cloak around herself modestly) I’d like the clothes, before anything else.

The group ride up the bank of the fjord, the woman riding with Kristoff and the sword with Ryder, to a cozy market village on the edge of the main town. They come to a mid-sized building labeled “Ms. Oaken’s Boutique and Sauna”.

**INT. MS. OAKEN’S BOUTIQUE AND SAUNA**

A bell rings as Kristoff, Ryder, and the woman walk into the shop. The shopkeeper is a young brunette woman - fully clothed - who is busy packing away winter gear.

MS. OAKEN: Hoo hoo!

Ms. Oaken turns around, sees Kristoff, and gives him a sweet smile.

MS. OAKEN: (cheerful bow) Good to see you, King Kristoff and consorts. Here to give back some of that royal pension, yah?

THE WOMAN: (turning sharply to Kristoff, gobsmacked) _You’re_ the King of Arendelle?

KRISTOFF: (dry) It’s a shock, I know.

She blinks a few times, looking between him and Ryder, processing, and then bows deeply.

THE WOMAN: My lord, I humbly thank you for your generosity, and for every moment after. 

RYDER: (bowing even deeper) Oh, Your Majestifullness, I too wish to dedicate my every bowel movement to your name.

KRISTOFF: (to Marie) Ignore him. You don’t have to do all that - I’m not anybody’s lord, I’m just the guy who married the Queen. 

Ryder and the woman straighten up again, Ryder grinning and the woman blushing.

KRISTOFF: (to Ms. Oaken) She is on the royal tab, though. I’ll cover whatever she wants.

MS. OAKEN: (opening a booklet for the bill) Of course, and what name should I put down for her?

KRISTOFF: Well, she can’t remember her name -

MS. OAKEN: (winking) _I see._ I’ll write in “The King’s lady friend”, yah?

Ryder snorts.

KRISTOFF: (uncomfortable) Uh, how about ‘ _Mystery Woman_ ’? No, that’s worse…

THE WOMAN: (rubbing her temple, concentrating hard) Wait! Something’s… coming to me…

RYDER: Maybe a memory!

THE WOMAN: A name… _Marie_. My name is Marie!

Marie looks at them all with wide-eyed wonder.

RYDER: (kind) That’s a pretty name, Marie.

KRISTOFF: I’ll take it.

Ms. Oaken leads Marie over to the ladies' section of the Boutique - racks dresses and bodices, and winter blow out sale on gloves and jackets. Marie considers her options, and decisively plucks out an ensemble.

MARIE: (to Ms. Oaken) I need somewhere I can change.

Ms Oaken opens a small private dressing room with a full length mirror on the back of the door. There’s an open window near the ceiling letting in light, too high for anyone to peep in.

MARIE: Thank you. And please let them know that I might be a while. I’ve got a lot to straighten out. (She runs a finger through her sand-crusted hair)

MS. OAKEN: Of course, dear.

Marie gives a sweet smile, waits until Ms. Oaken leaves, and then quickly shuts and locks the door.

**EXT. BOUTIQUE - MORNING**

Sven and Sonja are waiting outside the boutique, munching on grass. The finely carved hilt and part of the blade of the sword stick out of the rucksack strapped to Sonja.

Suddenly, the blade glows with a golden heat, and a feathery tongue of fire licks off the edge.

SVEN: (spotting the flame) *grunts in alarm*

Sonja is alarmed and she tries to look around to see what Sven sees.

The rucksack is awkwardly placed, but out of the corner of her eye she glimpses the flash. Sonja spins in circles, the rucksack with the sword and the flame bopping around on her back. The flames leap off the sword, and wisp through the air. 

SVEN: (watching the flame) *bellows loudly*

The sword stops glowing; Sonja keeps spinning in circles.

We follow the wisp of flame as it flickers around the back of the boutique and alights on the open windowsill of the changing room. The wisp solidifies into the form of a bright gold bird, the size of a finch. The bird has intelligent black eyes, a white breast, and a plume of red and orange for her tail.

**INT. CHANGING ROOM - MORNING**

We look in with the FIREBIRD and see that Marie is modeling her new clothes in the mirror. She wears a soft buttercup-yellow dress with a simple black bodice, a pink jacket with lavender details, and matching gloves. Her auburn hair is pulled back with a magenta bow. Marie draws herself up in a rigid posture, holding her shoulders square and her feet together, one hand in a tight cordial position at her chest, and the other resting at her side.

MARIE: (murmuring to herself) Hold all the weight high in the chest, prove his strength. He’s here to protect you. But _she -_

Marie shifts her posture, loosening her shoulders and sliding her hips askance. Her arms drift out to her sides, loose and willowy, and her stance opens.

MARIE (CONT'D): She’s vulnerable, inviting a protector. So, take the weight off the shoulders… And bring it _here…_

__

Marie holds her delicate new pose and examines herself with satisfaction. 

MARIE (CONT'D): And I can stand. (wry) It’s a start.

THE FIREBIRD: (sweet, feminine chirp) You lied to me.

Marie spins around, breaking her pose, putting up her fists. She sees only the little bird in the room with her, and relaxes.

MARIE: (speaking at the bird, amused) Oh, hello there. What a funny song you have. I could have sworn you said -

THE FIREBIRD: (sing-song) You _can_ swear it, because I _did_ say it. You _lied_ to me, Marie. (the plume of her tail flares up for emphasis)

Marie’s mouth falls open.

MARIE: (awed, relishing) You… came from the Firebird sword.

THE FIREBIRD: (correcting) The sword came from me. And you came for the sword. Unless, you _didn’t_.

MARIE: (raising an eyebrow) Didn’t I?

The Firebird flutters down from the window to the woman’s eye level.

THE FIREBIRD (CONT'D): (flitting around her head) I heard you, and heeded you, and burned true by your hand. You claimed me as yours, and I am. _Then_ , you said you didn’t know how I came to be here, and I’m _not_ yours. So, you lied - I’m either yours or I’m not.(settles on a coat hanger)

Marie watches the Firebird carefully, eyes narrowed. The Firebird’s sweet tone and demeanor never wavers, but she has a childlike indignance born from confusion.

MARIE: I’m sorry if I offended you, _Oh Firebird._ (slight condescension) I didn’t know you were listening this morning. Forgive me, but if I lied then _,_ it wasn’t to you.

THE FIREBIRD: Every lie you tell is a lie to yourself. If I am yours, then they are also to me.

MARIE: (scoffs) You gave me this disguise, how did you expect me to play it? An innocent maiden _who wields a sword of hellfire_. That’s _very_ plausible _._

THE FIREBIRD: (cocks her head) I didn’t disguise you. A disguise is a lie.

MARIE: You called me “Marie”.

THE FIREBIRD: You call yourself Marie.

MARIE: Yes, as I am… _this._ (she gestures at her shoulders, her chest, her feminized jaw, her tightened waist) But, then, why did you make me _this?_

THE FIREBIRD: (simple) I burned true.

Marie tries to parse the creature’s meaning for a second, and then abandons the thought. She turns back to the mirror.

MARIE: (practicing demure smiles) No matter. As poor, memory-less Marie, I’m in the ideal position to fool the _Reindeer King of Arendelle._ (laughs at Kristoff’s absurdity) Who would have guessed _that’s_ her type?

The Firebird flies to the top of her head and gives her a chastising look in the mirror. 

THE FIREBIRD: (sing-song) Fooling is lying.

MARIE: (waving her hand to shoo the bird) And are you incapable of serving a liar? Clearly not, as you’re still here.

The Firebird alights on the top of the mirror and puffs out her chest.

THE FIREBIRD: If you admit the truth - you _do_ claim me - then you _won’t_ be a liar and you _will_ be my knight. (whole body emits a golden, benevolent glow)

MARIE: (practicing dainty hand gestures, and inflecting her voice with a girlish lilt) Oh, but what if I _do_ lie? 

THE FIREBIRD: (glow dying) If you reject me, then I’ll go back to sleep and wait for a knight who is true. 

MARIE: I see. Either I claim you and then Marie has to answer _a lot_ of awkward questions, or I lie, rejecting you, and lose the Firebird’s power for good. _Or…_

The Firebird leans forward to hear this third option, but it never comes. Marie abandons the sentence, and fluffs her hair out instead. The Firebird slips off the mirror edge, and she flutters in Marie’s face.

THE FIREBIRD: (piqued) _Or_ I’m yours, _or_ I’m not!

MARIE: (practicing a light sashay away from the bird) Or you’re waiting on my word. And I’m afraid I’ve got a little revenge to attend to before I can even consider what you are.

The Firebird has settled on the heap of Hans’ battered clothing, like an ember in ashes. She looks up at Marie with wide-eyed uncertainty.

THE FIREBIRD: (baffled) Revenge?

Marie gives a graceful twirl for her reflection. She stops, holding out a beguiling hand to the mirror.

MARIE: Of course, _revenge_ \- it’s only fitting, as long as I’m here. (sultry sneer) I will seduce King Kristoff and so ruin the happiness of the woman who ruined my life.

She tosses her shoulder-length hair for emphasis, and then repeats the action a few times, dissatisfied with the effect.

MARIE: You couldn’t give me any more volume?

No one answers, and we see she’s now alone, only a feathery wisp of smoke where the Firebird had been.

There’s a knock at the door.

MS. OAKEN (O.S): Hoo hoo, Miss Marie? Are you ready? Someone’s coming who you won’t want to miss!

**EXT. FJORD COASTLINE - MORNING**

Ms. Oaken leads Marie outside the boutique, to where the humble market town overlooks the fjord. A small crowd of townsfolk has gathered along the bank. They gaze eagerly up the fjord, to the north, in anticipation.

Marie is brought to where Kristoff and Ryder are calming their reindeer, at the back of the crowd.

MS. OAKEN: King Kristoff, I’ve brought your Marie!

KRISTOFF: (to Marie) I did _not_ ask her to bother you -

MARIE: (coquettish) No bother at all, for your company. But please, who’s coming?

RYDER: The fifth spirit is returning south - she’s going to pass us on the fjord.

A little girl with a braid, no more than ten, runs by them to the bank, dragging her father behind her.

LITTLE GIRL: Elsa! Elsa!

Marie’s eyes widen at the name. She cranes over the crowd to look down the fjord. In the distance, something sparkles over water, drawing near at great speed.

CUT TO: **ELSA,** gleaming in the sun. The nokk’s hooves skim the water as they dash to Arendelle. She sees the onlookers gathered on the bank, blushes with a little grin, but doesn’t slow. The townsfolk cheer as she passes by.

We zoom into the cheering crowd, past the little girl with a braid squealing on her father’s shoulders, up to the back. Marie stares at Elsa, her breath caught in her throat.

**BEGIN FLASHBACK:**

Snippets of memories flash before us. Elsa’s eyes, bewildered and terrified… The fjord freezes over as she flees… An abandoned glove lies in the snow… A cold blade flashes down…

HANS: (V.O.) You can’t run from this!

**END FLASHBACK.**

And then Elsa is gone. The cheering dies down and the crowd starts to disperse. The little girl is dragged back up the bank by her father. 

Marie breathes again.

Behind Marie, Kristoff feeds a carrot to Sven as if nothing of interest happened. Ryder gazes at the fjord with an odd expression.

RYDER: (musing) I always thought the “fifth spirit” meant like, the transformative energy that binds us to the elements. Now she’s my best friend’s sister-in-law. It’s weird, y’know?

KRISTOFF: (thinking) Yeah - hey! Maybe Elsa could fix Marie’s memories.

Marie’s whole body tenses up. The guys don’t notice.

RYDER: Probably! She just needs water, right? And Marie washed out of the sea.

Marie stares unseeing at the fjord, thinking fast. She then turns around to face Ryder and Kristoff with an awestruck smile.

MARIE: (breathless) Oh, my, wouldn't that be… _magical!_

KRISTOFF: (holding out a hand to help Marie onto Sven) We’ll go down to the castle straight away, and meet her there.

Marie takes his hand, but makes a show of hesitating, biting her lip.

RYDER: Is something wrong?

MARIE: (careful with her words) It’s just… _royalty_ and _spirits_. It’s going to be… _so_ _much_. (overwhelmed just thinking about it). And - if I’m being _honest_ \- I’d really prefer to spend more time with the reindeer, (she pats Sven fondly) and _you, (_ she squeezes Kristoff’s hand) at least for today.

KRISTOFF: (gruff but sympathetic) I get it. Kingdoms and magic are a lot. We can see Elsa about your memories later.

Marie sighs with relief, and puts a demure hand to her heart in appreciation.

RYDER: We could take Marie up to see the herd!

RYDER (CONT’D): (speaking for Sonja) And I could show Sven my favorite berry bush, if… if he wants to. (shy)

Marie stares at Ryder, taken off guard by the sight of a grown man talking like a reindeer does not. Sonja blinks at Sven.

KRISTOFF: (speaking for Sven) Sonja, my dear, I thought you would never ask!

Sven continues to munch carrots. Marie stares at the Reindeer King.

KRISTOFF (CONT'D): (as himself to Marie) How about it, Marie? Are you up for a reindeer date?

He gives her a kind smile with a wry edge.

MARIE: (batting her eyes, dreamy smile) Oh, I can’t think of anything better, at this moment.

Kristoff helps her onto Sven, and the group rides away from the fjord, heading for grand hills of the northern forests.

CUT TO: **VOLCANO SLOPE.**

**EXT. MT MUNDSPELL - AFTERNOON**

Just beyond the edge of the snowline, a slight crack has formed in the dark basalt crust. We hear a deep rumbling. The mountainside bulges from pressure within. The crack splits. Hot chunks of tephra blast into the air.

The firebombs sail over the shallow sea between the island and the mainland. They rain down on the shore, punching two house-sized craters in the rock.

Out of the smoldering craters crawl a pair of volcanic fire spirits, seething with anger. One of the salamanders immediately starts spitting lava at some petty shrubbery along the shore. The other surveys it’s surrounding a bit, blinking unevenly. Looking up at the hilly land, the creature spies wooden rooftops among the trees. It hisses to get the first salamander’s attention - who eagerly belches lava in reply.

The salamanders slink toward the nearby settlement, streaks of molten rock in their wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why 'Marie'? These songs will give you the Doylist reason. 
> 
> Santino Fontana's audition tape for Hans: https://youtu.be/29iYXH6eCW4
> 
> The original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgHtBxOs4qw


	4. Smoke and Fires

ACT ONE

SEQUENCE B2

CUT TO: **REINDEER DATE.**

**EXT. NORTHERN FOREST - AFTERNOON**

Sonja and Sven sit on either side of a bush, munching berries. Tree branches full of blossoms frame their heads in a heart shape - revealed to be held in position by Ryder. Romantic music plays over them - revealed to be Kristoff strumming his lute. Beside Kristoff is Marie, swishing her dress to the music and fluttering her eyes as if it was the most wonderful sound she ever heard. Kristoff’s attentions are elsewhere. 

KRISTOFF: (speaking for Sven) Sonja, I hope it’s not too bold of me to say that you are the prettiest doe I’ve ever seen.

RYDER: (speaking for Sonja) Oh Sven, I’ve never met a buck who understands me like you.

Keeping a straight face with herculean self-control, Marie approaches the reindeer. She holds out a carrot to Sven.

MARIE: (speaking in a reindeer-voice to the reindeer) Pardon me, sir, would you care for more produce?

Kristoff shoots Marie a chastising glance.

KRISTOFF: Don’t condescend to him.

We pull out, and see that the date is taking place in the midst of the reindeer herd. The other reindeer are grazing, and a few mosey over to Sven and Sonja’s bush. Kristoff does voices for them, too.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (as one of other reindeer) Sven, you’re going to be so good for our Sonja.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (as another reindeer, who is eating berries) Yes, Sonja eats too many berries, and Sven will expand her pallet to carrots.

RYDER: (to Kristoff) Hey, you can’t force their love!

KRISTOFF: (as himself to Ryder, breaking off the lute melody) _I_ know that, but this is her herd - they want to get involved. When I took Anna to meet _my_ family, it was a nightmare. 

Marie stares at Kristoff, her brow knit in thought. A reindeer steals her carrot.

MARIE: (putting it together) _Anna…_ is your wife?

KRISTOFF: My better half, yeah.

He smiles to himself, and reclines beside the reindeer in a position that refuses to commit between sitting properly and lying down. Marie continues to puzzle.

MARIE: But, the ice spirit is the Queen.

KRISTOFF: (tuning his lute) No - well, Elsa _was_ the Queen, and then she abdicated last fall. Same day I proposed to her sister, in fact.

RYDER: (contemplating the sunny forest grove) A lot of life changing stuff, that day.

Marie lets out a little “huh” to herself. She studies Kristoff with a mix of amusement and a kind of fascination. She sits down beside him, taking care to demurely tuck her legs under her dress.

MARIE: (slight, almost wry smile) So, you didn’t know you would be king when you proposed?

KRISTOFF: (rueful sigh) _No,_ it was a surprise for both of us.

Marie puts a sympathetic hand on his arm.

MARIE: (voice low and gentle) That’s a big thing to surprise someone with. 

Sven puts his head on Kristoff’s shoulder. Kristoff reaches over to scritch his nose - dislodging Marie’s hand.

KRISTOFF (CONT'D): (fond) Yeah, but Anna loves being queen, and I love being with Anna, so it all works out.

Marie looks away from him, her eyes distant.

MARIE: I suppose it would… 

RYDER: (O.S) Guys, I think the forest might be on fire.

Marie and Kristoff look up to see black smoke rising over the trees, from the west. 

KRISTOFF: (jumping to his feet) There’s a village that way!

He shoves the lute in his pack and mounts Sven, and Ryder mounts Sonja. Marie stands up - following Kristoff - but wavers, unsure.

RYDER: (holding out a hand to her) Marie, come on!

Marie hesitates, but takes his hand. He pulls her up on Sonja and they all ride off after the smoke.

**EXT. CASTLE BRIDGE - MIDDAY**

Elsa rides across the fjord to the castle bridge where Anna and Olaf are waiting. Elsa dismounts the water nokk - who melts into the sea - and skates up to them as Anna runs to meet her. The sisters embrace.

**EXT. STREETS OF ARENDELLE - AFTERNOON**

Elsa and Anna walk together, Olaf toddling alongside them. We start at middle distance, and close in as they speak.

OLAF: (mid-babble) - a lot about death, but I really liked Mr. Poe’s study of guilt in the “Tell-Tale Heart”. 

ELSA: Wow, Olaf, your reading has improved so much since I last saw you! (she shoots Anna a concerned look)

ANNA: Yup, he’s our little scholar! (aside to Elsa) We’re carrot-proofing the locks on the library.

ELSA: (chuckling) We used to play there - do you remember?

ANNA: (feeling the gaps in her memory) A little. Tell me what we did!

Elsa plucks a blossom off a tree and spins it in her hand, reshaping the petals with ice magic.

ELSA: (sly grin) You wanted to play paper dolls. So, I took pages from dusty law books that nobody read and made ice dresses and suits out of them.

The blossom is sculpted into a little frosty petticoat.

ANNA: (laughing, imagining the mess they made) That’s brilliant!

ELSA: (sobering) Mother and Father didn’t think so. After that they had us keep magic games to the ballroom, where there was nothing I could break.

The delicate tendrils of ice thicken until the blossom shatters.

ANNA: Elsa…

Elsa’s eyes are misty, but she’s smiling.

ELSA: I’m fine. (her throat catching her words) I’m just… so happy I can finally be what they wanted.

ANNA: (takes her hand) Elsa, you were always what they wanted.

ELSA: (at peace) I know. My powers are a gift for their love. And so are you. (she squeezes Anna’s hand)

ANNA: I know.

The sisters reach their parents’ memorial in the center of the village square. They look up and hold hands, mirroring the statues.

OLAF: (sentimental) It’s so nice to know exactly why you exist. And knowing you exist for the best reason - for love - well that’s just frosting.

ANNA: (eyes lighting up) Olaf, you just gave me an idea. We should throw a party!

ELSA: A party?

ANNA: A ball! A classic Elsa and Anna extravaganza!

OLAF: With ice cream cake!

ANNA: And ice sculptures, and an ice palace, and open to the whole kingdom. This is the perfect way to say good-bye to winter -

OLAF: And hello to spring!

_Anna starts singing to Elsa, describing her vision for the ball. It’s been ages since they’ve had one together - which is understandable, the weather is rarely nice enough in the winter. But today is warm, and it will be warmer tomorrow._

\- Villagers start to gather around Anna, getting hype for the ball.

ANNA: (to Elsa) Are you ready?

ELSA: (eyes shining) We’re going to need more flowers.

CUT TO: **ARENDELLE COURTYARD**

Bushels of flowers are brought by villagers to the courtyard. In the center, Elsa raises a magnificent ice palace, grafted to the front of Arendelle Castle.

_The castle servants and Arendelle townsfolk dance and sing as backup for the sisters. A ball for spring, a ball for Arendelle, a ball for the sisters reunited._

__

\- Anna takes a bushel of yellow daffodils and blue anemone and throws the flowers into the air over Elsa. Elsa catches them with her magic, and weaves the flowers into palace details. Elsa’s powers are the most refined they’ve ever been, forming a lattice of vine-like swirls for the canopy.

_The past may be full of darkness and despair, but in the end it was all for the best reasons - and it brought the sisters together._

\- Anna leaps from ice column to ice column as Elsa raises them beneath her feet, catching her perfectly every time. Servants toss Anna hanging baskets of pansies, which Elsa crystalizes so they sparkle like jewels atop the columns.

_If they make up for lost time now, it’s like it was never really lost, only waiting for the right moment to come around._

\- Elsa and Anna skate in tandem, Anna sprinkling petals over the stone, and Elsa icing them over for the palace floor.

_Everything has a season, and for every winter storm there are spring days._

\- Olaf makes a game of rearranging his body to mimic elemental spirits, and Elsa conjures ice sculptures to match him. Trolls, salamanders, water nokks, and swirly wind sylphs burst from the courtyard fountains.

_Elsa and Anna duet about the harmonious blend of warm and cold that makes spring wonderful. Sunshine with a cool breeze._

\- As the sisters dance and play together in the center of their creation, a finely fractaling ice chandelier blooms like a giant winter rose overhead.

\- We pull back to see the full scale of the spring palace, like a massive ice cream cake, frosting in every color.

The wind sylph, bearing wisps of black smoke and a small piece of paper, sails into view, spiraling down.

Elsa and Anna see the letter, and their song ends.

The wind sylph releases the letter and Elsa catches it. She unfolds and reads.

ELSA: It’s a dispatch from General Mattias. Fire spirits are attacking the north! Oh Anna, I’m sorry, I -

ANNA: (coughing a bit from the wind sylph’s smoke) It’s alright! Go - do your magical destiny!

Elsa gives Anna’s shoulder a squeeze, and then runs out of the courtyard to the castle bridge. She dives into the sea, and the water nokk carries her back to the surface in an instant. Elsa turns him to snow, and they ride back to the northern lands, following the distant trail of smoke.

CUT TO: **SALAMANDER,** breathing lava **.** We hear screams and crackling wood.

**EXT. NORTHERN VILLAGE - AFTERNOON**

On the outer edge of the forest, the two lava salamanders besiege a small settlement between Northuldra and Arendelle lands. The air is filled with thick black smoke from several houses and tents on fire. Northuldra tribesmen and Arendelle guardsmen do their best to fight the spirits and usher people to safety.

One of the salamanders eagerly heads toward another house, where an elderly couple struggles to get out the door. GENERAL MATTIAS and YELANA try to distract the creature.

MATTIAS: (banging his sword on his shield and yelling) Hey, fat ugly gecko - over here!

YELANA: _Mattias,_ respect nature’s magic!

MATTIAS: (same tone) Over here, big beautiful spirit!

He succeeds in getting the salamander's attention. It seethes towards him, spitting lava chunks. Mattias yelps as the lava melts down the blade of his sword. Mattias and Yelana run from the salamander, drawing the creature to a more open area of the town where their comrades are waiting in ambush.

YELANA: Now!

The Northuldra tribesmen run up to the salamander and throw buckets of water at its face, before quickly darting away. The water reacts with the lava in the creature’s mouth, steaming up its face and confusing it. The salamander licks its bulging eyeballs, trying to clean them.

MATTIAS: Shoot! Aim for the cracks!

The Arendelle guardsmen, from a safer distance, use the distraction to shoot crossbows at the spirit. The bolts take chips out of the salamander’s igneous skin, annoying it. 

Kristoff, Ryder, and Marie arrive from the forest and take in the chaos. To the north - their right - is the main town, largely on fire, the flames starting to spread to the trees on the edge of the forest. Villagers flee from the town to the south - their left. A little ways in front of them, they see the stand off with the salamander.

MARIE: (wide-eyed damsel) Oh my, it’s all so _aflame!_ But what can we do?

Ryder regards Marie with concern. To Marie’s surprise, he then lifts her off Sonja by the waist and sets her on the ground.

RYDER: (pointing at the forest) Wait here, ok!

Marie stays put. Ryder and Kristoff ride into the village proper, past burning rubble, to Mattias and Yelana.

KRISTOFF: General Mattias!

RYDER: Yelana!

Their respective compatriots look around. Mattias is disappointed to see the guys, but Yelana is relieved to see the reindeer.

YELANA: Quick - there’s still people in those homes! (she points to the north side of the town)

Ryder takes a nervous breath, unbuckles his rucksack from Sonja - so she can carry more people - and throws it back toward the forest. He and Sonja dash off to the elderly couple’s house. Kristoff and Sven are about to follow, but pause when Mattias runs up to them.

MATTIAS: (to Kristoff) My King, did Elsa get my dispatch? She told me to use the windy thing, but I don’t think it understood my directions -

YELANA: (yelling over her shoulder) The wind spirit knows these lands better than _you_ do!

MATTIAS: It seemed flighty! In my day, a reliable courier was an underpaid teenager on horseback.

KRISTOFF: (apologetic) I don’t know if Elsa’s coming, I haven’t seen her.

Mattias turns back to the salamander fight. The Arendelle guardsmen are forming a barricade with their shields - which the salamander is eating.

Kristoff tries to follow Ryder into the northern part of the village, but a collapsing house cuts him off in a plume of ash and embers. Sven’s eyes water and Kristoff chokes a bit. Kristoff covers his nose with a scarf and skirts Sven around the burning wood, by the forest.

CUT TO: **THE FIREBIRD SWORD,** the hilt and the top of the blade poking out of Ryder’s abandoned rucksack. A wisp of flame leaps off the blade and flickers the short distance to the edge of the forest, where Marie is still waiting. The Firebird flies around her shoulder.

THE FIREBIRD: (in her ear) You aren’t my knight, Marie. You _lied._

MARIE: (indignant) I think I’ve been _very_ careful -

THE FIREBIRD: (sing-singing over her) You asked what you could do, as if you didn’t know. But _I_ know that _you_ know that isn’t true.

Marie narrows her eyes, seeing what Firebird is getting at.

MARIE: So, you want me to play the hero? _Now?_ What greater lie could I tell them?

Her tone is cool, masking a raw bitterness. 

THE FIREBIRD: Every lie you tell is to yourself.

Kristoff and Sven are nearly past the burning building. Then, the second salamander slinks in front of them, blocking their path and baring its teeth menacingly. Sven rears back, bellowing in distress. He tries to escape, but the fire has spread to the trees behind them. They’re trapped.

THE FIREBIRD: (O.S.) Do you claim me as yours, to burn true by your heart? Or do you reject me for a cold revenge? Whatever you do, you will answer me.

CUT TO: **MARIE,** a half-realization in her eyes. She takes a breath and weighs her options with the sword. Her brow sets. 

MARIE: (smirk) It would never have worked with him anyway. 

The Firebird dissipates to flame as Marie dashes forward into the village. She grabs the sword by the hilt and draws it from the rucksack without stopping.

MARIE: (while running) Hear me, Firebird, for I claim you by your name. 

As the runes light up on the blade, Marie sprints into the burning wreckage between herself and Kristoff. The hem of her dress catches fire as she passes through the flames, but Marie doesn’t slow.

She crosses in front of Kristoff as the creature rears at him. Marie skids low, smothering her burning dress in the wet grass, and slices off one of the salamander’s back legs in one clean stroke of the sword. The salamander loses balance, swiping at her as it topples.

Igneous claws rake across her back, tearing through her jacket. Marie rolls and recovers, burning shreds of pink fabric and the magenta hair ribbon falling away. Indignant and bleeding magma, the salamander turns away from Kristoff to face her - creating a gap where he and Sven can escape.

MARIE: (loud) Heed me, Firebird, for by my hand your blade burns true!

And so she does. The sword ignites, a white hot glow with golden feathery edges. The pink gloves burn off Marie’s hands. She stares down the lava spirit, the Knight of the Firebird.


	5. Slay the Witch

ACT TWO

SEQUENCE C

**EXT. NORTHERN FORESTS - AFTERNOON**

Elsa and her nokk race across the northern lands.

**EXT. NORTHERN VILLAGE - AFTERNOON**

They arrive at the smoldering outskirts of the village, where people have found refuge on higher ground. Elsa extinguishes the burning trees with a thick frost. The evacuating villagers cheer.

Arendelle guardsmen and Northuldra tribesmen work to put out the house fires as Elsa enters the village proper. Ryder with Sonja and Kristoff with Sven are helping them, bearing buckets of water. Just as the guys are about to throw the water, Elsa ices over the target house with a wave of her hand.

RYDER: Elsa!

Sven sees her, and spits out the bucket in his teeth.

KRISTOFF: (sees her, hangs onto his bucket) Hey, great, you’re here.

ELSA: (surprised to see him) Kristoff!? Where are the fire spirits?

KRISTOFF: At the shore, but -

Elsa doesn’t hear the rest - already on her way, readying ice blasts at her palms as she goes. 

**EXT. NORTHERN COASTLINE - AFTERNOON**

On the rocky shore chewed up with craters, Elsa finds the lava salamanders retreating to the sea. Both are missing multiple limbs, one is missing a tail - the wounds have sealed over with igneous skin, and some are starting to regenerate as stumps. The salamanders aren’t going quietly, still hissing and spewing lava, but their attacker forces them back with fire of her own.

Elsa stares at the woman on the shore - charred dress, ash in her hair, burning sword in hand. Elsa relaxes her hands, letting her ice magic dissapate.

Kristoff rides up behind her on Sven. Sven is intimidated by the nokk, but gives him a friendly snort. The nokk is aloof and ignores him.

KRISTOFF: Yeah, so, we’ve had some help.

ELSA: Who is she?

KRISTOFF: Her name is Marie - that’s all we know.

They watch Marie as she beats back the salamanders. She takes a big swing and misses the side of one. The sword lets loose a blast of fire at the spot where she would have hit - surprising her with its power. The blast is hot enough to punch a hole in the spirit’s igneous skin, exposing the red magma underneath, and strong enough to shove the creature to the edge of the water.

KRISTOFF: (O.S.) Ryder and I found her washed up on the fjord this morning. She said she lost her memories, but I guess some are back now. (bewildered awe) The magical sword-swinging is a totally new side of her.

Elsa is most intrigued by that.

ELSA: (lofty side-eye at Kristoff) Maybe she didn’t share all her sides with you.

Marie sends more blasts of white hot fire at the salamanders, as they dig their claws into the rock. The salamanders exchange a harried glance. One of them gives a final territorial hiss, and then they both turn tail and slink into the sea. The water boils and steams.

UNDERWATER: **THE SALAMANDERS** , a pillowy crust forms over their skin as they enter the water, making their movements sluggish, tempering their rage. They burrow into the seafloor, kicking up ridges of loose sediment, heading back toward the volcano.

BACK ON THE SHORE: **MARIE** pauses to breathe, lowering the Firebird sword. The blade cools, and she stares at the ancient steel, exhilarated.

In the distance, we see Mt. Mundspell venting smoke. The earth rumbles, and there’s an explosion on the mountainside.

KRISTOFF: (horrified) It’s erupting!

ELSA: (frustrated) _It’s not -_ this is a crack. The summit will hold, I just need to -

Elsa cuts herself off as she sees a firebomb arcing across the sky. It’s heading straight for the shore, where Marie stands. Elsa urges the snow nokk toward the sea.

With a broad sweeping gesture Elsa pulls a massive dome of ice out of the water and over Marie as the firebomb falls. The ice shatters, but Marie has just enough time to scramble out of the way. The firebomb hits where she was standing, punching a new crater into the rock.

Marie whips around as Elsa rides up to her. Marie stares at Elsa with intense astonishment, and her sword lights, ready.

ELSA: Behind you!

Marie barely dodges a spray of red-hot embers over her shoulder. A new salamander heaves itself out of the crater. The creature rears up at her, mouth cracking open, bubbling with lava. Marie swings the sword and sends a fire blast square at its chest, knocking the fire spirit into the water.

As she approaches the water's edge, Elsa ices over the steaming surface where the salamander went down. She brings the nokk to a stop beside Marie.

ELSA: (breathless) I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.

Marie half-glances at Elsa, taking in her changed appearance - hair down, white dress, elemental stallion - but not meeting her eyes. The Firebird sword cools.

MARIE: (curt) It’s no trouble, I can handle these creatures by myself.

ELSA: I see that, but you shouldn’t have to. (she lets the ice sheet dissipate) These fire spirits shouldn’t be here. They ought to be sleeping beneath my enchantment.

Marie stares ahead at the volcano across the sea, at the glacier.

MARIE: (muted wonder) The ice cap, that’s… all _you_.

ELSA: Yes, I don’t know why I thought it would be enough. (frustrated) Now, I have to go back and seal over the mountainside.

MARIE: And _that_ will be enough?

ELSA: (proud) If I felt the need, the entire island could freeze by my power.

Elsa flicks her wrist and the smoking crater left by the salamander is smothered in frost. Marie’s eyes widen at Elsa’s display of effortless control and confidence.

ELSA (CONT’D): (half to herself) But, it is true that defending myself from the spirits at the same time is… taxing. With the explosions, I’ll need cover just to cross the sea… (pursing her lips, restraining excitement)

She raises an eyebrow at Marie.

ELSA (CONT’D): How high can you throw your flames?

MARIE: (cagey) I haven’t tested.

ELSA: (small grin) Let’s find out. (a little nervous) I’d like you to come with me to the volcano.

MARIE: (shocked) You - no, I can’t!

ELSA: Of course you can. Here, I’ll carry you.

Elsa raises her hands and pulls the surf beneath Marie’s feet, changing the waves to snow. She raises Marie up on a thick snowbank, a few feet deep and packed tight enough to stand on, that grows in a path onto the sea. The snowbank begins to roll out over the water, carrying Marie with it. The nokk steps onto the water beside the snowbank, thawing himself to his liquid form as he does so.

Marie swipes at Elsa’s snow with the Firebird sword, but the blade won’t light. She jumps off the snowbank, onto the shore.

MARIE: (half to the sword) Yes, that is to say, I _could_ help you, but I absolutely _should leave now._

Elsa stares at her, confused. Marie backs away.

ELSA: You have to go somewhere?

MARIE: (verbally boxed in) Not _have to_ \- strictly - but,

Elsa’s brow knits.

ELSA: (a bit hurt) Are you afraid of me?

MARIE: (surprised) No!

Finally, she meets Elsa’s eyes.

MARIE: No, I’m not.

Marie and Elsa hold their gaze, trying to get the measure of each other. Elsa is vulnerable and Marie is earnest - both a bit too honest for someone they ostensibly just met. But Marie sees that Elsa doesn’t recognize her, and Elsa sees that Marie is sincerely unafraid.

ELSA: (pressing) Then, what’s the reason?

Mt. Mundspell rumbles in the distance, preluding to another volley of firebombs. Marie lets out a sharp breath.

MARIE: Apparently, there isn’t one.

She breaks Elsa’s gaze and runs back onto the snowbank.

The snowbank rolls over water, undulating with the waves, but remaining a solid mass at an even depth by Elsa’s power. Elsa canters the water nokk alongside the snowbank, keeping Marie moving with it at her pace. Marie slips immediately as she takes a step on the moving snow, falling on her rear.

ELSA: (reining in the nokk) I’ll slow down for you.

Marie scrambles into a half-crouch, steadying herself with her free hand as the other holds the sword ready. A cool pose, if a bit overcompensating.

MARIE: (aloof) No need.

Elsa restrains a smirk. A firebomb sails overhead, incoming.

MARIE (CONT’D): In fact, can you raise me up?

Elsa obliges, conducting the front of the snowbank into an upward slope. Marie finds her footing and runs up the slope, readying the sword for a mighty swing. At the crest of the slope she jumps, letting lose a blast of flame. It hits the firebomb midair with enough force to knock it off its trajectory.

Marie lands on the very edge of the slope, the snow crumbling under her heel. Elsa makes a quick gesture, and the slope changes shape, sliding underneath Marie to catch her. Marie gives Elsa a curt nod of thanks, and Elsa gives her a modest grin.

The firebomb falls out of the air, the ball cracking apart into a flailing salamander, before hitting the water some distance from Elsa and Marie. Elsa shoots a blast of ice from her hand to cool the steaming waves.

**EXT. NORTHERN SEA - AFTERNOON**

We pull out to see their progress across the sea - the water nokk is now moving at a brisk gallop.

ELSA: You’re Marie, right? I’m Elsa, I’m -

MARIE: (brusque) I know who you are.

A second firebomb is incoming, at a wide arc towards the mainland. Elsa rolls the snow bank up into a slope again. Marie runs up the slope, balancing better this time, and unleashes a particularly ferocious blast that clips her target. The firebomb is knocked off course enough to fall into the water rather than hitting the shore. The snow bank rolls back down, putting Marie at level with Elsa on the nokk.

MARIE: (in between breaths) I saw you - on the fjord this morning. They told me - you’re the ice spirit.

ELSA: (with a proud, mystical air) I’m the _fifth_ spirit of the four elements. It’s my duty to keep the wild magic of nature and humans safe from each other. (shy) Although, today, it seems I’m not the only one.

Marie glances at Elsa and sees her searching expression.

MARIE: _Oh_ no, I’m not a spirit.

ELSA: But there’s _magic_ in you!

Another firebomb streaks across the sky, arcing toward the mainland.

MARIE: (whipping up copious amounts of magical fire) No, there’s not!

ELSA: (eyebrow raised) It’s a bit late for denial…

MARIE: All the magic comes from my sword. I’m not like you. 

She swings, but her blast fizzles as the Firebird disagrees with that last point. The firebomb sails overhead unimpeded. 

MARIE (CONT’D): (quickly, half-directed at the sword) Alright, yes, we _are_ similar, I wield magic - but only with the sword in hand.

The Firebird appreciates Marie’s correction and ignites for her again. Marie twists around in time to blast the firebomb off course, into the sea.

MARIE (CONT’D): (under her breath) When she’s not trying my patience, that is.

ELSA: (observing Marie and the Firebird’s little negotiation) There’s a spirit trapped in that weapon?!

MARIE: The weapon _is_ a spirit, as you call it.

Elsa narrows her eyes at the blade, dubious.

**EXT. SLOPES OF MT. MUNDSPELL - AFTERNOON**

Elsa and Marie reach the shore of the island, where the mountain meets the sea in a shallow slope of hardened basalt. The snow bank under Marie melts back into the water as she walks onto the land. Elsa pats the water nokk’s wither as his hooves touch the rocks, freeing him to snow. She brings him to a stop in front of Marie, blocking her path.

ELSA: (commanding as the fifth spirit) Let me see.

Elsa beckons for Marie to hand over the sword. Marie holds back for a moment, but then hands Elsa the hilt with a show of nonchalance.

The nokk sniffs the sword and snorts reproachfully. Elsa runs a finger along the ancient blade, the runes, but the sword is cold to her touch. Elsa is a bit irked, and Marie is a bit smug.

MARIE: She’s called the Firebird. She speaks to her knight.

ELSA: (thoughtful) And that’s _you_?

MARIE: (certain, almost defiant) Yes.

Elsa turns her gaze back to Marie with a kind of admiration.

ELSA: (confident) Well, if a spirit as powerful as her calls to you, you _must_ have magic of your own.

Marie looks askance as she takes back the sword, with a shadow of a smile at the idea.

The volcano grumbles beneath their feet. Elsa and Marie look up the craggy slope and see the fissure vent - a glowing red seam just below the snowline.

MARIE: (sizing up the vent) Right, so, that’s the crack - we seal it, and then the fire spirits will calm?

ELSA: (shakes her head) There would just be another breach tomorrow. (smile to herself) And I have plans for tomorrow. The whole volcano has to freeze, from the top down.

As they speak, thin trickles of lava leak from the fissure vent and run down the mountain slope towards them.

MARIE: (realizing the scope of their task) _Oh_.

ELSA: (tense but sure) We can outpace the fire spirits, at least until the summit. My nokk is faster than they are - (the nokk whinnies grumpily, and Elsa pats his neck) and my ice will clear him a path.

MARIE: (skeptical) While also carrying me?

Elsa glances at her, taking the point but surprised she made it.

ELSA: You can ride with me, I suppose - I didn’t think you wanted to…

MARIE: (against her own reservations) I… am quite good with horses, as it happens.

Marie holds out her hand - expecting Elsa to manually help her onto the nokk. Elsa instead makes a pulling gesture and boosts Marie up with a swirl of magic beneath her feet. Marie shivers as she settles into position. The nokk stamps his forelegs and swishes his tail, ruffled by the new rider. Elsa strokes his mane of frost, reassuring him.

Above them, the lava trickles are clearly visible as salamanders now - half a dozen of them. Melting basalt streaks behind their tails, dribbling down the mountainside like black candle wax.

ELSA: (looking around to Marie, eyebrow raised) Ready?

Marie lights up the sword, and holds it high.

MARIE: Are you?

Elsa turns back around with a little grin to herself, and urges the nokk forward.

The nokk is cautious on the basalt crags, taking only small jumps and keeping within a canter. With a sweep of her arms, Elsa conjures a road of ice before him, smoothing over the treacherous terrain as they go. The nokk snorts, grateful, and kicks into a full gallop.

Marie leans forward as they gain speed, steadying herself with a hand on Elsa’s shoulder. Elsa flinches at her touch, and Marie quickly withdraws her hand.

Elsa urges the nokk in a wide arc to skirt around the fire spirits. The salamanders slither lithely over the basalt crags after them, furious. Jaws crack open, readying to spit lava, aimed at Elsa.

Marie leans across the nokk, her hair brushing past Elsa’s cheek. With two quick strokes of the sword, she blasts the attacking spirits with fire. The salamanders hunker on the rocks and seize up their igneous skin, sealing over the hairline cracks with a thick crust. The Firebird’s winglike flames wash over them.

Elsa’s breath catches as Marie conducts her power. Marie glances over her shoulder, meeting Elsa’s rapt eyes.

THE NOKK: *alarmed whinny*

Elsa and Marie look down and see Elsa’s ice path melting to slush beneath the nokk’s hooves. They’re sinking, about to tumble to the jagged rocks below. 

MARIE: Oh dear.

Elsa hurriedly waves her hands and refreezes the path. She then urges the nokk onward, but he stays frozen in place, tossing his head with frustration. His hooves are trapped in thick ice crystals.

The salamanders are nearly upon them.

ELSA: (panicking) No, no -

She’s about to try again to free him, but Marie gets in her way, swiping at the crystals with her sword.

MARIE: I’ve got it!

Not a moment to waste, Elsa redirects her power at the oncoming salamanders, sending wicked spikes of ice to buffer their advance. At the same time, Marie uses her heated blade to carve the nokk’s hooves out of the ice. He gives her a grateful snort.

Marie leans too far, near falling off. Elsa grabs her forearm in time and pulls her upright. Marie is surprised by Elsa’s strength, and also by her own lightness. She gives Elsa an embarrassed smile, which Elsa returns, reassuring. 

With restored confidence, Elsa sweeps her other arm in front of her, conjuring up a new ice path as sturdy as before. The nokk shakes off the remaining crystals and dashes across the ice.

The salamanders chase them up the slope, but the nokk easily outstrips them. They near the fissure vent - mile-long jagged rift that runs at a diagonal along a bulging ridge on the side of the slope, directly above where Marie and Elsa came ashore. The whole rift is crawling with fire spirits.

The nokk skirts around the ridge, avoiding the vent while trying to reach the summit as directly as possible. The salamanders on the vent see Elsa’s approach - the creatures bare their teeth and hiss, spraying lava droplets down on her. Marie swings the sword over her head, sending a streak of white hot flame to disintegrate the droplets.

A stray ember falls on her sleeve and Marie hisses in pain. Elsa blows the ember away with frosty breath over her shoulder. Marie thanks Elsa with a grin, and Elsa gives her a smirk as she turns back around. 

The nokk carries them up into the snowline, where he no longer needs Elsa’s ice path to run with ease. Freezing winds whip past them - Marie shudders, her breathing sharp. Then, responding to her need, a golden glow emanates from the sword hilt and spreads up her hands, under her sleeves, insulating her whole body in a thin down-like halo.

Marie rubs her fingers together, feeling the magic dance over her skin as a live flame, amazed.

ELSA: (watching Marie’s expression intently) Is that new, for you?

MARIE: (genuine) All of this is new for me.

The slope steepens to a sharp incline as they approach the summit. The nokk slows, but the salamanders do not. Marie is turned around on the nokk’s back, slinging fire down on spirits closing in. On the backhand of a swing, she slices the cape off one of Elsa’s shoulders.

ELSA: (gasping at the heat) Ah!

MARIE: (twisting around to look at her) Are you hurt?

ELSA: (watching the sheer ice fabric blow down the mountain) It’s just my dress.

MARIE: (blushing a little, but relieved) Oh. Sorry.

A tremor runs through the volcano, deep within the glacier under them. The nokk rears, disturbed, but Elsa urges him to keep moving. The tremor travels to the fissure vent behind them. The rock bulges, the rift widens, and a massive fire spirit bursts out. It’s three times the size of the others, skin glowing as fresh lava, with a red hot frill on its neck.

The severed ice cape blows into the creature’s face, vaporizing to steam on impact. The great salamander glowers at Elsa and with a furious guttural hiss the neck frill flares up, spraying lava. The great salamander heaves itself out of the fissure and slithers after them, faster than the smaller spirits.

The nokk gallops up the snow coated outer wall of the volcanic crater. He leaps over the rim, and the pursuing spirits fall out of sight.

**EXT. MUNDSPELL SUMMIT - LATE AFTERNOON**

The crater is a pristine frozen lake at the top of the world. In the middle is emblazoned a colossal snowflake sigil, and the nokk carries them across one of the fractal stems toward the center.

Inside the crater walls, between white snow and blue sky, for a moment, there’s a near perfect serenity. We hear the soft hoof beats on the snow, the ambient woosh of flames from the ignited sword, Marie and Elsa’s shallow breathing.

Then, over the rim, the great salamander appears. It scrabbles down the wall, onto the ice, after them, leaving steaming streaks in the snow.

Elsa turns the nokk around to face the great salamander, magic at her fingertips. Marie lightly puts her hand on Elsa’s arm, signaling her to lower it.

MARIE: Keep going - I’ll handle them. This is why you brought me.

ELSA: (fretting) Yes, but I didn’t think there’d be spirits coming from this deep, this powerful.

MARIE: I can take the heat.

Marie flashes a smoldering grin at Elsa and smoothly slides off back of the nokk. She hits the snow and rolls back to her feet with a self-indulgent theatricality. Elsa watches her go, torn between laughter and wonder at Marie’s flamboyant heroics. She forces herself to turn away and urge the nokk onward across the crater.

Marie runs out to the edge of the snowflake sigil, toward the oncoming spirit. She swings the sword and fires a white hot blast. The salamander weaves, the blast clips its frill and hits the glacier. The Firebird’s heat punches into the ice, sending a thick column of steam into the air.

While Marie is focused on the great salamander, half a dozen smaller spirits come crawling over the crater rim.

CUT TO **: THE NOKK,** reaching the center of the snowflake sigil. Elsa takes a breath to clear her head, and raises her arms slowly and gracefully. She then thrusts her hands down, channeling her power at the point where all the fractals stem. The ice crystals on the sigil begin to thicken and expand.

BACK TO **: THE GREAT SALAMANDER** , nearly at the edge of the snowflake sigil. Marie plants her feet in a defensive stance and readies her sword. The massive creature barrels around her, focused solely on Elsa.

The spirit’s tail glides past Marie - black igneous skin ringed with cracks of red magma the size of a tree trunk. Marie runs up the tail and onto the creature’s back, raising her blade for a killing strike. But the sword only slices through a chunk of salamander’s frills, and a forelimb. The salamander writhes, frustrated, and Marie barely keeps herself from falling on the skin like hot coals. She jumps off, onto the snow, and stabs at the salamander’s back leg. The spirit lurches to the side, unbalanced.

Marie smirks to herself, relishing the fight. She glances back, checking her audience. Elsa is concentrating on her enchantment, while a smaller salamander encroaches from the side. It slithers across the snowflake sigil, lava dripping from its maw onto the growing ice crystals.

Marie makes a sharp jabbing motion with the sword, sending a precise burst of flame to knock the lava out of the spirit’s mouth.

SALAMANDER: *aggravated hissing at Marie* (as if to say _what’s your problem?_ )

The smaller salamander turns back to Elsa. Marie sends another blast - this one hitting the spirit’s side with force enough to knock it out of the snowflake’s radius. 

MARIE: (impatient yelling at the salamander) She’s not the threat - _I am!_

Elsa glances up at Marie - at something distantly familiar in her tone. For a fraction of a moment their eyes meet, but Marie is already turning away, back to fight the spirits swarming the crater.

We hear a deep groaning beneath the snow - not the same as the tremors from the volcano, but the sound of the glacier expanding. The crater rim seems to sink as the frozen waters rise.

ON THE SLOPE: **THE SNOWLINE,** growing steadily, blanketing over the basalt. The salamanders in the fissure vent sputter with rage at the encroaching ice but their lava cools the instant it meets Elsa’s magic.

ON THE SUMMIT **: ELSA,** conducting her power in force. The nokk canters in a circle around the snowflake as she directs a steady flow of magic to the center.

Marie holds the sigil’s perimeter, sweeping the sword low to send steady arcs of flame across the crater. Spirits still scramble over the rim, the great salamander’s limbs begin to regenerate - but the creatures are on the defense. The volcano shudders again, weaker than before. Marie looks back at Elsa and sees her grinning to herself. She knows they’re winning. We close in on Marie’s eyes, alive with feeling - awe, exhilaration, and a kind of joy.

**BEGIN FLASHBACK:**

**INT. ELSA'S ICE PALACE - DAWN**

The light changes from the cold afternoon of the present to a golden morning of nearly four years ago. We see Hans’ eyes betraying a whirlwind of emotion - fury, exhilaration, and a kind of horror.

We see Elsa lying on the palace floor, out cold, the broken shards of the chandelier around her. Hans stands over her body, protective. He has a crossbow in hand, pointed at the weapon’s owner - one of the Duke of Weselton's thugs, who points a short sword at Elsa. The Arendelle guards and foreign volunteers stand around them, their weapons also ready.

DUKE’S THUG: She’s a monster! A sorceress!

HANS: (fierce) She’s a scared girl!

The passion in Hans’ voice surprises himself and confuses the thug.

DUKE’S THUG: You just tried to kill her yourself!

HANS: (too quickly) No, I didn’t! I deflected _your_ killing shot, and by chance it hit the chandelier.

DUKE’S THUG: (certain) You aimed and fired.

HANS: (desperation creeping in) It was an _accident!_ (half to himself) I _had_ to, but she’s just -

ARENDELLE GUARD 1: Why didn’t you let him take the shot?

Hans stares at him. All the guards look uncomfortable, but not in disagreement with the one who spoke. 

HANS: (to all of them, making a show of disgust) She’s _your queen!_

ARENDELLE GUARD 1: (shrugs, helpless) And she cursed our kingdom.

ARENDELLE GUARD 2: Prince Hans, Arendelle hasn’t had a real queen or king since the gates closed. But with you here, and Elsa lost, well, maybe we could again.

The guards all look to Hans with hope. Hans is stunned.

HANS: (thinking fast) Look, she’s already unconscious, and summer’s not back. Maybe the winter won’t end unless she wills it to. And if she dies, maybe everything will be cursed _forever!_

There’s a manic edge to Hans’ voice, but the guards take his point. The thug lowers his weapon and all of the guardsmen take a wary step back from Elsa.

DUKE’S THUG: (fearful) Then, what are we supposed to do?

Hans stares wildly without an answer. He glances at Elsa, and something shifts in his eyes. He sets down the crossbow and lifts her up in his arms.

HANS: (collecting himself) We’re taking her back to the castle. Maybe Princess Anna has returned, she’ll talk to her sister and… (he stumbles on his words) and all of _this_ can be over.

Hans carries Elsa out of her palace. The guards follow him, keeping their distance from the ice witch.

Far below the North Mountain, we see Arendelle, buried in eternal winter.

**END FLASHBACK.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://youtu.be/mvTlo5pVZ9k
> 
> https://youtu.be/3_hVmcKRKNQ
> 
> https://youtu.be/dnTkhTvWc3o


	6. The Happy Snowman's Thesis

ACT TWO

SEQUENCE D1

FADE IN: **ARENDELLE IN SPRING**

We pull in on the castle, to the floral ice palace over the courtyard.

**INT. ELSA AND ANNA’S ICE PALACE - EARLY EVENING**

Queen Anna is in the middle of ball preparations, working out the floor plan with the servants. Olaf sits on top of a large wooden table that the head servants - KAI and GERDA - are straightening. Kristoff and Sven have returned from the north. Sven licks at the flower detail on an ice column, and Kristoff follows Anna around the ballroom. He’s telling her about what happened since he left the castle.

KRISTOFF: - and then Elsa took off, with Marie, to deal with the volcano thing. Sven and I helped put out some more fires and then we came back here. (lamely) And, that’s beenmyday.

OLAF: (sliding between Gerda and Kai as they steady the table) Wow! Mystery, romance, mortal danger - so many things happened without me!

ANNA: (to Kai and Gerda) Just a little to the left… Perfect! (to Kristoff) Yeah, that is a lot of day you’ve had. So, wait, Elsa made _friends_ with the woman you found on the beach? (mix of joy and shock at this twist)

KRISTOFF: (shrugs) It happened kind of fast. Elsa was really impressed by Marie’s fire powers, and I guess she wanted her help.

ANNA: That’s a first…

Anna’s brow knits slightly, but her thoughts are interrupted by the village baker bearing a platter of miniature cakes.

BAKER: (short bow) Queen Anna, here are samples of the ice cream cakes I’ve planned for our ball.

ANNA: (through a bite of streusel cake) Mmm - Bjorn, these are divine!

OLAF: (toddles over) Is there a carrot cake? Asking for a friend.

BJORN THE BAKER: There will be now! (to Anna and Kristoff, concerned) And forgive me, Your Majesties, but I couldn’t help overhearing. Does Mt. Mundspell pose any danger to us?

KRISTOFF: (shrugging) I’m not a magical authority, but the volcano looked bad to me, maybe about to erummmph. (Anna shushes him with cake)

ANNA: There was a little lava in the north, but the fifth spirit is sealing it over as we speak. (takes the hand of the baker, reassuring) I promise you, my sister will keep us safe.

BJORN THE BAKER: Thank you, Queen Anna.

Anna smiles and the baker leaves. Anna then turns to Kristoff and gives him a chastising look.

ANNA: (whispering) Kristoff, you can’t just speculate about _erupting volcanoes_ to people. They’ll freak out!

KRISTOFF: (swallowing the cake) Ok, fine! You do the queen-thing _,_ and tell them in a way that makes them happy about it.

Anna sets down the cake tray on one of the tables and walks away from it. Sven takes an interest and Olaf tries to protect the cakes.

ANNA: But the volcano isn’t erupting. Elsa told you it’s just a crack. After all the good her powers have done, we should trust her to handle it.

A castle servant shows Anna two patterns of table cloth - crocus buds or songbirds. Anna choses the crocuses.

KRISTOFF: (folding his arms) I trust she’ll try, but she also told us Mundspell would be fixed by this morning.

ANNA: (impatient) So, she’ll fix it again. There’s no problem here.

Kristoff gives a frustrated sigh, but doesn’t argue further.

ANNA (CONT’D):(optimistic) Our ball is tomorrow, Elsa will be back soon -

OLAF: With _Marie!_ I’m so excited to meet everybody's cool new friend!

KRISTOFF: (amused smirk) She’s alright, actually. I think you’ll like her.

OLAF: (contemplative aside) I guess she's not really a _cool_ friend, because _fire._

ANNA: (bright) I can hardly wait. (calling to the servants) Gerda - please prepare a guest room, the one with the fjordside view. And Kai - we’ll need that extra seat at the dining table. Elsa’s bringing a friend home!

**EXT. ARENFJORD - WELL AFTER SUNSET**

Elsa and Marie return to Arendelle, over the fjord, on the water nokk. In the far distance behind them, the renewed enchanted icecap covers the entire cone of Mt Mundspell. One of Elsa’s capes is still damaged, and Marie’s charred yellow dress is so ash-coated it’s now a dark gray. The Firebird’s glowing insulation is gone from Marie’s skin, and she sports several pale red burns on her arms.

The nokk carries them at a leisurely pace - rather tired from a full day of galloping down and up and down again across the lands. In snow form, he lets them off at Arendelle’s shoreline, well before the castle gates. Elsa touches foreheads with the nokk to say thank you, and Marie pats his cheek. The nokk gives a weary head-dip to Elsa, a measured look to Marie, and then dissolves, running as water back into the sea.

**EXT. ARENDELLE CASTLE BRIDGE - NIGHT**

Elsa and Marie stroll across the castle bridge together, Marie resting the sword on her shoulder.

Marie takes a sharp breath as she crosses the threshold of the castle courtyard.

ELSA: I suppose it is a bit much. 

They enter the fever dream floral ice palace. Night mutes the colors from the flowers, so the spectacle comes from Elsa’s ice work gleaming with light from the moon and the castle windows. Bare tables and empty chairs are set up, giving the dance floor a ghostly feel.

MARIE: (awed and amused) A bit. Is this always here -? (she almost says “now” but catches herself)

ELSA: Oh _no,_ my sister and I threw it together this morning. We’re having a spring ball of sorts tomorrow - you’re welcome to come, if you like. (a little nervous)

They pass underneath the winter rose chandelier. Marie stares up, seeing her own reflection refracted in the silver ice petals. A drip of water falls from the center, landing in Marie’s eye.

MARIE: (blinking) Ah! The ice will keep that long?

ELSA: (frowning, flicking her wrist at the chandelier to give it another coating of permafrost) Oh, yes, of course it will. 

MARIE: (coy) Well, I.. don’t have a thing to wear.

ELSA: (slight eye roll at Marie’s ruined outfit) We’ll get you a new dress you can burn. I’ll ask - Anna!

They’ve come to the castle gates, open wide, with Anna standing before the warm light within. She wears a royal cape over her nightgown, and her crown.

ANNA: (smiling, though a bit wan) Hey, sis. 

Elsa runs up to her and the sisters clasp hands in greeting.

Marie hangs back, observing them. Her expression is a stoic mask, but her whole body is tense, her hand ready on the sword hilt.

ANNA: (to Elsa) That’s… _her?_

Anna takes in Marie’s appearance - imposing stature, battered dress, ancient sword, rather short hair for a woman - with curiosity and apprehension.

Marie’s jaw tightens.

ELSA: (beckoning Marie forward) Anna, I’d like you to meet Marie - Knight of the Firebird. Marie, this is my sister - Queen Anna of Arendelle.

Marie steps before Anna and looks her in the eye. Marie’s gaze is bold, almost defiant.

ANNA: (poised, hiding her intimidation) Welcome to my kingdom.

MARIE: It’s an honor, Your Majesty. 

Marie begins a bow, but catches herself and smoothly shifts to a demure curtsy. The elegant gesture is made awkward by the large sword in her hand.

ANNA: (gracious, dipping her head) Thank you, but really _I’m_ the honored one. From what I’ve heard, you’re quite the heroine.

MARIE: (cautious) What have you heard?

ANNA: Well, just today, you saved my kingdom, and my Kristoff. (half-joking) Even more impressive - you’ve won the affection of both my husband _and_ my sister.

ELSA: (aside) A rare feat, that.

Marie is stunned, then amazed, then amused by a private irony.

MARIE: (wry) Such high expectations precede me - I’m afraid I’ll disappoint them.

ANNA: (trying to banter) I could lower them, so you can reach - not that you need help reaching things, in general. You’re very tall. (floundering)

MARIE: (not bothering to hide her annoyance) Indeed, I am.

ANNA: (off-put) You’re welcome… Um, right, there’s dinner ready in the hall - we ate _hours ago_ , but Kai can warm your plates back up.

Anna smiles at Marie. Marie gives her slight nod of assent, but doesn’t return the smile.

ELSA: Dinner would be great - as would showers, I think.

She flicks a large flake of ash out of Marie’s hair. Marie blushes.

Anna ushers Elsa and Marie into the castle, holding out a hand to Marie. Marie does not take it, using her free hand to brush more ash flakes out of her hair. Anna awkwardly tries to recover the gesture by adjusting her cape.

Anna leads them through the entrance hall, which is empty aside from the three of them.

MARIE: Is _His Majesty_ in? (touch of fond sarcasm on the honorific)

ANNA: (annoyed at Kristoff) Yes, but he’s asleep. I told him to wait up, so we could all meet you as a family -

ELSA: (to Anna) But Marie _has_ met my family. Just not all at once, and I think that’s for the best.

Anna is a little miffed at that last point. A thought occurs to her - a mischievous one.

ANNA: (sly grin) _Mmm_ Elsa, I don’t believe Marie has met the _whole_ family. And we can fix that right now! 

CUT TO: **LIBRARY**

Olaf’s head and torso are on the floor, his main body separated to prop up a large book for him to read. We can see the title, “FRANKENSTEIN”. He is engrossed in the book with an uncommonly serious expression. 

ANNA: (O.S, calling) Olaf! Elsa’s back - _with Marie!_

Olaf perks up, and bounces to the door on his torso. His body follows, after one of his detached arms takes care to dog-ear his spot in the book - which is already full of dog-ears. 

CUT TO: **ENTRANCE HALL**

ELSA: (eyes widening with dismay) It’s been a long day, she doesn’t have to -

ANNA: Sure she does!

MARIE: (cocky) Sure I do.

Olaf trots around a corner, reassembling as he approaches the women. He uses one of his arms to wave his other arm, before reattaching it.

OLAF: (innocent) Hello, Elsa’s hot friend!

MARIE: (recoiling) Oh goodness.

Elsa buries her face in her hands, mortified. Marie gets over the initial shock and peers in closer at the thing in front of her.

OLAF: (to Marie) My name is Olaf, and I like warm hugs.

MARIE: This is your (trying to contextualize) pet-child-goblin?

ANNA: (affectionately rubbing his head, grinning) Olaf’s a _snowman_ \- Elsa made him.

MARIE: (flash of understanding, and delight at the miniature, harmless golem) _Oh!_ Oh, _she did now!_

ELSA: (glaring at Anna over her hands) When I was eight!

Marie kneels down to Olaf’s level.

MARIE: (to Olaf) How do you do, Olaf of Arendelle?

They shake hands.

OLAF: Happy to meet you! I'm a longtime fan of heat. (shy) Would you mind if I asked you some questions, as a fire woman?

MARIE: That will depend on the questions.

OLAF: I was wondering if I could see your fire dress. Or your fire palace! (gasps at an incredible thought) Do you have a fire _Olaf?_

MARIE: (running a finger along the blade) Not _yet_ \- I’m afraid all I’ve got is this fire _sword._

OLAF: So classic! That’s like the chocolate and peanut butter of things and fire!

MARIE: (enjoying the attention) Would you like to see her light?

OLAF: _Would I!?_

ANNA: Maybe not inside - 

Marie doesn’t seem to hear her. She sets the sword ablaze with a wide dramatic stroke and brings the blade to rest at level with Olaf’s eyeline. The snowman reacts with pure joy.

OLAF: She’s _beautiful!_

He leans closer to the feathery golden flames, and his face promptly melts to a puddle on the floor, carrot and all.

ANNA and ELSA: (alarmed) Olaf!

Anna grabs Olaf’s body and pulls him back from the sword. Elsa repairs his face with a puff of snow magic.

OLAF: And I will cherish her from afar.

ANNA: (breezy but strained) We can all agree that playing with sharp things on fire is totally amazing and fun, but please, Marie - this is a _wooden castle_.

MARIE: (light, with the barest hint of condescension to Anna) As you wish, My lady.

Marie waves the sword, the flames die out.

ELSA: Anna, weren’t you showing us to dinner _?_

ANNA: Of course! Down this way.

Anna, Elsa, and Marie continue down the corridor, Olaf toddling beside them.

OLAF: Marie, why are you here?

MARIE: Excuse me?

OLAF: (innocent) I’m sorry, was that one of the questions you didn’t want me to ask?

Marie stares at him, trying to think of a way to answer that.

ANNA: (awkward) Ahah, don’t mind him, he’s been asking everyone that lately.

OLAF: It’s ok if you’re not ready to comprehend your ontological imperative.

MARIE: (half-laughing) _Oh,_ I see. You want to know why I _exist?_

OLAF: Yeah! Like, the reason you were made.

MARIE: (playing along) Well, were _you_ made for a reason?

OLAF: (pleasant) Of course - love and happiness! Elsa and Anna built me together, to make each other happy. Ergo, their love is the reason I exist.

Anna and Elsa exchange a heartwarmed glance.

OLAF (CONT’D): (to Marie) Does anyone love you?

ELSA: _Olaf!_

MARIE: I… hmm. (she considers this with a slight rueful smile) I truly don’t know, anymore. 

OLAF: (sheepish) Ohh… I forgot about your memory thing.

ANNA: (to Marie) Yeah, so you were shipwrecked and brain damaged - that’s intense!

MARIE: (brooding) _Intense_ is a word…

Anna waits for her to say more, but she doesn’t. Elsa closely watches Marie’s darkened expression. Olaf is pensieve.

ANNA: (tentative) Do you maybe have some idea of where you sailed from?

Marie considers this, tapping the handle of the Firebird sword as she does so.

MARIE: I _believe_ the ship was heading _north_.

ANNA: (eyes narrow, pressing) Ok, so that means you were probably coming from the -

OLAF: (interrupting, deadly serious) Everybody, I’ve just had a shocking realization. I know the true identity of this mysterious person!

They all pause to stare at him. Marie is the closest to Olaf, and she subtly tightens her grip on the sword.

MARIE: (impassive) Go on.

OLAF: (smiling) You’re lil’ Glowy!

Anna gasps at this revelation. Marie and Elsa are confused - and also relieved in Marie’s case. Marie relaxes her grip on the sword and rubs her eyes in a restrained “I can’t take much more of this” way.

ANNA: (staring at Marie, putting it together) That was _you_ , with the sword…

ELSA: What is little glowy?

OLAF: Anna and I saw a glowing light on the water last night! It was just like Marie’s fire.

Marie gets an odd self-conscious look.

OLAF (CONT’D): Then it went out - which was Marie almost drowning. And then Anna cried.

ELSA: Anna…

She puts her hand on Anna’s shoulder, and Anna gives it a squeeze.

ANNA: (quickly) It’s no big deal! Kristoff was there, and now we know she lived, and it’s all fine.

OLAF: That’s true! Lil’ Glowy _did_ come back! (to himself) Which means I didn’t lie, after all.

The group reaches the dining room, and as they enter we close up on the Firebird sword. At the base of the blade, a tongue of golden flame licks off the back and wisps behind Marie. The women don’t notice, but Olaf does.

OLAF: (in sotto) _Lil’ Glowy!_

He eagerly follows as it flickers back into the corridor.

MARIE: (O.S. her voice growing more distant as we move away from the dining hall) So, I keep hearing about what an eventful autumn you all had -

ELSA: Oh _yes_ , that’s quite the story.

ANNA: (less enthused) Well, it’s a lot to explain… 

The flame solidifies into the Firebird, and she perches on Olaf’s carrot nose. 

THE FIREBIRD: You _did_ lie, Olaf. You lied about me.

OLAF: (confused) Lil’ Glowy? But you came back! And you’re ok, just like I said you were.

THE FIREBIRD: (sing-song) You didn’t know it when you said it. Telling the truth can be telling a lie if the truth isn’t yours.

Olaf ponders this.

OLAF: (sighing) I guess you’re right…

THE FIREBIRD: (pleased) True!

OLAF: Lil’ Glowy isn’t even your real name, is it?

THE FIREBIRD: I am named as I am claimed.

OLAF: Well, that means nothing. (perking up) But it’s ok if you’re shy - I can tell you who I am!

_Olaf introduces himself to the Firebird in song, telling her the things he knows about himself. His name is Olaf, he likes warm hugs, and he exists for happiness._

\- Olaf dances around the Firebird through the corridor.

_The Firebird sings back to him. She asks him why, in a childish way. Why is he Olaf? Why does he like warm hugs? Why does he exist for happiness?_

\- The Firebird flitters around Olaf.

_Olaf tells the Firebird that he exists because two sisters built a snowman together._

\- Olaf imagines a fantasy version of Elsa and Anna playing as children, building him. They’re outside in a world of bright colors and sunshine.

_He likes warm hugs because they said he does, and his name is Olaf because that’s what they called him._

\- Olaf imagines playing with the sisters, a living snowman alongside them as children.

_He knows he knows these things, because water has memory._

_The Firebird sings, no, it doesn’t._

\- The Firebird intrudes on Olaf’s fantasy, alighting on top of his head.

_Olaf scoffs, of course water has memory; he’s living proof! But Olaf supposes that even if water didn’t have memory, he would know who he is anyway because there are good reasons for him to be. He’s a snow_ man named “ _Olaf_ ” _because he has a deep voice and thick manly hair._

\- Olaf’s fantasy continues. He’s riding Sven like Kristoff, as his model of masculinity.

_He likes warm hugs because he has unbendable arms and a cold body made for hugging._

\- He’s giving a big hug to a village girl, who hugs him back happily.

_He exists to make people happy, because two sisters built a snowman, because of the love they share, and he is that same snowman because water has memory._

\- He plays with Elsa and Anna, alongside them as the sisters grow up.

_The Firebird sings, no, it doesn’t._

_Olaf admits that he doesn’t really remember being the snowman the sisters built - his first memories are of being totally alone._

\- Olaf’s first memory of wandering the north mountain in Elsa’s enchanted blizzard, no light nor warmth to be found.

\- Olaf remembers dissolving back into snowflakes in Anna’s arms, as Elsa’s magic left him.

_But he knew he was Olaf and he liked warm hugs even before anyone told him so. And if water doesn’t have memory, then he knows who he is because_ Elsa _has memory. Elsa made him to be like the other Olaf - who wasn’t like anything, because he wasn’t alive._ It _wasn’t alive._

\- Our view circles Olaf, back to back with the inanimate Olaf staring vacantly with coal eyes.

_But_ this _Olaf_ is _like something, and Elsa wouldn’t have just given him life on a whim, by herself, without thinking about what he was for. She must have made him so he could make Anna happy, right?_

_Olaf asks the Firebird, so he_ was _truly made because of love, right?_

_He was made for a reason, right?_

We’re back in reality. Olaf is alone in the dark, cavernous ballroom where sisters played as children. The Firebird is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested listening:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z3N79ktprw&ab_channel=Numbers.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtAwogksyQQ&ab_channel=lyinsroar
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9pl1q7s4mI&ab_channel=EilinFosse


	7. Young Women and Their Passions

ACT TWO

SEQUENCE D2

**YOUNG WOMEN AND THEIR PASSIONS**

FADE IN: **BED CANOPY**

Blue bed curtains, the color of ocean waves, are drawn closed. We see them from the inside, in the darkness. There’s a crack in folds, and a sliver of golden sunlight starts to shine through.

**INT. GUEST ROOM - MORNING**

We see Marie, sleeping in a dark bed, the hilt of the Firebird sword poking out underneath her pillow. The sunbeam falls on her face, her eyelashes flutter, and she wakes.

She pulls back the curtains and slides her legs off the side of the bed, sitting upright. She is clean, and wearing a shapeless nightgown that’s a bit short for her. Her hair is shaggy, cheekbones sharp, but the eyes a little less under-shadowed.

Marie touches her jawline, feeling the smooth space where sideburns used to be, and then runs her hand through the fluffy locks of loose hair in their place. She smiles slightly. 

Marie yawns and stretches. It’s a vocal yawn and Marie is a little surprised by her own sound.

MARIE: (feeling her throat) Ooh. I wonder how high that goes.

_Marie sings to herself, testing her vocal range with some ahhh-ahh-ahhs, which start to take shape as a new melody. Marie is a soulful alto, with significant range above Hans’ baritone._

\- As she finds her voice, Marie makes the guest bed, smoothing out all the creases. There’s a routine feel to the way she does this - it’s how she starts every morning.

_Marie puts words to her melody. She’s here, again. In this land, with these people, who believe she’s a hero - no, a heroine. Everything is the same, and nothing is the same. She's the same person, in a new life - or a changed person, in the same life._

\- Marie opens the window to a picturesque view of the fjord. The sky and water are both clear blue.

_What is the difference between this life and the last, between yesterday and every day before? Is it the size of her shoulders, the length of her jaw?_

\- Marie combs her hair, fluffing it out in a warm spring breeze.

\- The dress and bodice from yesterday are set out for her on a dummy. They’ve been cleaned, and the dress has been patched up, though the skirt and sleeves are still charred on the edges.

_Or is it that voice, that syrupy warble (Marie mocks Hans’ timbre) Oh, isn’t he charming, isn’t he exactly as you dreamed? Or, failing perfection, he’s a heartless traitor, twisting the knife in your back._

\- Marie pantomimes, using the dummy as a partner to heroically sweep off its feet and then villainously leave to die.

_And now she’s neither, and both. A maiden with a sword of hellfire. Nothing anyone expects, least of all herself, and yet a hero - a heroine, “burning true”._

\- Marie draws the sword from the pillows and theatrically swishes it, grinning to herself.

_Is that what the Firebird meant, why she was changed? Is this at last the part she’s meant to play?_

\- The Firebird wisps out from the blade to perch on Marie’s hand.

_The Firebird only responds with her own ahh-ahh-ahh melody back to her, at an inhumanly higher pitch. Marie returns the melody, and the Firebird harmonizes with her._

\- Marie leaves the guest room, dressed for the day, and re-explores the castle with the Firebird flying beside her.

_The first time she claimed the sword, it was agony. Her very veins were on fire, as if the power blazed from her own heart._

\- She goes on the castle roof, through a luminous stained glass tower, and looks out to the southern sea. 

_And there still is a kind of pain, but also this warmth, this joy, this life. She’s never felt so much of everything before._

\- She goes back inside, and dances through the vivid red and gold papered castle halls.

_Oh, but she has felt something like this before._

\- Marie pauses at a door she dimly recognizes - white with blue and purple diamond accents. She stares at it for a beat, and then she tries the handle. It's stuck. The Firebird changes back into a wisp of flame, and flows into the keyhole. The door unlocks.

\- Elsa’s old bedroom hasn’t been touched since the day of her coronation. The windows are laced with frost, there’s crusts of ice on the walls and bed sheets, and dust motes hang suspended in the air. Marie can see her breath.

_This is where Elsa lived. Kept in this room, by her parents, who taught her to be a queen. Or, failing perfection, she would be a monster, and curse the land with an eternal winter to match her heart._

\- There’s a dresser, with a pair of silk gloves laid out on top. Marie picks one up - the threads are stiff from the cold.

\- Next to the gloves is a small framed daguerreotype of the late King and Queen of Arendelle. Marie regards it with contempt.

_Marie remembers the ice palace on the North Mountain - the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, and the most terrible. Free to use her boundless power however she wished, Elsa made another castle - another prison - and shut herself inside._

\- Marie examines the high diamond-barred triangular window, welded shut by the ice built up on the edge. She touches the fogged glass, marking it with heat from her fingertips.

_Hans thought Elsa was doomed to be the ice witch, just as he was doomed to betray everyone who put their hopes in him. At that revelation, his despair was so complete he mistook it for freedom, like a chill so deep it burns._

\- Marie turns away from the window, moving back to the open door and the warm light outside.

_The other feeling that Elsa kindled in his heart, when he met her frightened gaze and recognized it as if it were his own, Hans could only understand as a kind of pain. And when Marie saw her again, radiant in the sun, in every glance they exchanged there was that same agony. But also this warmth, this joy, this - is this love? She’s never felt so much about anyone before._

_Oh, but is there even a chance that Elsa might feel this too?_

\- Marie leaves Elsa’s old room. We see her walking through the ballroom where she first witnessed Elsa’s power.

_Could Elsa ever understand all that that brings them together? Surely if she knew their shared past, Elsa would be disgusted and horrified by her - no, by_ him.

\- Marie leans on a balcony, overlooking the fjord waters where so much happened so long ago.

_But that old life, that old name isn’t hers anymore - this who Marie is meant to be. Elsa found her true place, as the fifth spirit, and so too has Marie, as the Knight of the Firebird, as her heroine!_

\- Marie stands up on the balcony railing, holding her sword aloft. She sets it aflame. 

_Marie belts her ahhh-ahh-ahhh refrain, accompanied by the Firebird._

_On the last round of the call, the Firebird’s voice is gone._

KAI: Ma’am?

Marie whips around to see the head servant behind her on the balcony. He dips his head at her politely. Marie hops off the balcony, puts out the sword’s flame, and tries to hold the weapon casually.

MARIE: (mortified) Oh! Um - 

Her eyes fleetingly glance between the head servant and the balcony edge.

KAI: Forgive me - I am loath to intrude on a young woman and her passions (this is a mundane feature of his job that he barely notices anymore) - but Queen Anna has asked for your presence.

Kai gestures for her to follow him. Marie hesitates, tense.

MARIE: (cautious) Did she say why?

KAI: As I understand, it’s a matter of attire.

**INT. GUEST DRESSING ROOM - LATE MORNING**

Kai leads Marie into a small but lushly furnished pink dressing room. There are half a dozen gowns on dummies, with matching shoes and hair ribbons laid out on a table. The outfits have a variety of colors and makes - one is sparkly silver blue, one is elegant teal velvet, one has a massive bustle with gold rose details. Anna is there, already in her gown - emerald and chartreuse, with pink floral accents that match the crystal in her wedding ring. She’s accompanied by Gerda and two other female servants, cooing over the dresses.

KAI: I found her, Your Majesty.

ANNA: (turning to see her, smiling) Marie, good morning!

Marie curtsies, accommodating the sword better this time with a more restrained gesture. Kai bows out quickly.

ANNA (CONT’D): I hope you slept alright.

MARIE: (reserved, but polite) Yes - dreamlessly.

ANNA: (sunny) Great! Well, Elsa told me you needed a dress for the ball, but I didn’t know what would be your style - and maybe you don’t either - so I got you some options.

The female servants show off the dresses for her - holding out the pleats, and matching ribbons.

MARIE: Oh! Thank you.

Marie begins to look over the dresses, not particularly drawn to any.

ANNA: (babbling on) I had to guess your sizes. If there’s anything too short, or too tight, let Gerda know and she’ll adjust it for you.

Marie nods vaguely, now onto sizing up a slender heeled shoe like it’s a math problem.

ANNA (CONT’D): And, also, I thought you might like one of these, for your sword.

Anna holds out a handsome scabbard, black leather and embossed with a gold Arendelle crest.

Marie stares at it a moment, taken aback. She accepts the scabbard, sheathes the Firebird sword, and then smiles at Anna - the first time since she returned.

MARIE: (genuine) This is all very generous of you.

Anna beams at Marie, relieved, and gives a little modest shrug.

ANNA: Alright, well, looks like you’re set then. I’ve got to run - but my handmaids will be here to help you.

Marie’s brow furrows.

MARIE: (brusque, a little too insistent) That won’t be necessary - I can dress myself.

ANNA: (bemused, and off-put) Uh, ok… We’ll leave you to it, then. See you at the ball!

Anna exits the dressing room with the female servants. Gerda gives Anna a mystified glance, which Anna returns with a shrug - as if to say “whatever,I tried _”_. As the door closes, we see Marie holding a simple pink gown to her figure.

CUT TO: **OUTSIDE** **ANNA AND ELSA’S** **DRESSING ROOM.**

Anna by herself, staring at the door. She knocks loudly.

There isn’t an answer.

ANNA: (calling) Elsa, is your dress ready?

ELSA: (O.S. muffled) N-no.

ANNA: It’s been over an _hour_ \- that’s like a hundred years for you! Can I come in?

ELSA: (O.S.) Just a moment!

Anna waits, hearing rustling from inside the room. She loses patience and opens the door.

ANNA: (annoyed) This is _my_ room too, you can’t shut me out - Elsa?

**INT. ANNA AND ELSA'S DRESSING ROOM - MIDDAY**

She stops herself. Elsa is in the middle of the light teal dressing room, wrapped in a lavender bathrobe, looking like she just stepped out of a downpour. The carpet and floor are covered in puddles and thawing ice shards. She stares at Anna, flushed and panic stricken.

ELSA: Anna, I’m sorry, we have to cancel the ball! My powers are out of control.

Elsa waves her hand, and shoots out a swirl of magic. Crystals form out of the air, suspending for a moment, and promptly melt to water droplets, splashing to the floor.

ELSA: See - I can’t make anything solid!

She stares at her hands in horrified frustration. Anna lifts her skirts and steps around the puddles, over to Elsa. She puts an arm on her sister’s shoulder, and sits her down at a vanity table. 

ANNA: Ok, this is new, but not so bad - maybe it’s just the flu again.

Anna touches Elsa’s forehead, feeling for a temperature and frowning when there isn’t one.

ELSA: That must be it. I felt something coming on yesterday. My pulse is racing, my stomach is swooping -

ANNA: _Swooping?_

ELSA: As if I’m _flying -_ but too high, too fast, and I can’t stop thinking about… (she blinks, trying to shake herself out of it)

Anna listens closely to Elsa’s symptoms, and her eyes widen as she realizes the diagnosis.

ANNA: (wonder) Elsa… you’re in love.

Elsa stares at her, shocked.

ELSA: (indignant) _What?_ This isn’t _love -_ it can’t be. I know what love is.

She waves her hand and dissipates the slushy water on Anna’s shoes.

ELSA (CONT’D): Love is what you feel for someone you know will always be there for you. (to herself) _We’ve_ _just met…_

ANNA: (grinning) That’s what true love for your favorite sister is, but that is not what a crush is. (dreamy) It’s _crazy_ , like you’re falling off a cliff, and then amazing, because he’s falling with you…

ELSA: (brow furrowing) And it's agood thing?

ANNA: The _best._ Oh, Elsa, you’re going to have your first boyfriend!

ELSA: Ah, Anna -

ANNA: You _have_ to introduce him, we’ll have a double-couple picnic with Kristoff - 

ELSA: _Anna!_ You’ve already met her - last night.

ANNA: Who - ? (getting the picture) Oh. _Her._

Anna blinks, and takes a second to process this. Elsa holds her breath, waiting for a response.

ANNA: (recalibrating) Wow, ok cool, but… _Her_ -her? I mean, what about _Honeymaren_ _?_ She’s so sweet!

Elsa gives a helpless shrug.

ANNA (CONT’D): Marie’s all “ooh, I’m too brooding and mysterious to take compliments. You can’t understand me - I have a _sword_.”

Anna mimics Marie with a low voice and haughty expression. Elsa chuckles.

ELSA: (fond) She is somewhat aloof.

ANNA: (eye-roll) Yeah, like how Sven is _somewhat_ a reindeer.

Anna grabs some towels off a stand and spreads them over the puddles.

ANNA (CONT’D): And I don’t think she’s been totally open with us. What she’s said so far _seems_ true enough - I _guess_ \- but just the _way_ she says it, it’s like she’s hiding something. 

ELSA: (thoughtful) I know. I see it, in the moment just before she glances away… (musing) But she can’t quite restrain her smile. As if, maybe, she wants someone to find her…

Elsa traces her finger in some loose water droplets on the vanity table, her power compelling them to flow in a river. She catches her reflection in the mirror and blushes, self-conscious.

ELSA: (running a hand through her hair) Good heavens, I sound obsessed. (slight smile) I suppose this is what you mean by a _crush_.

ANNA: (concerned) Mmm _hm_ _…_ You know, if the ball is too much for you right now, it’s ok - we can reschedule.

ELSA: (mild panic) Oh no, she’s already invited! The ball _must_ go on.

Elsa hears how she sounds, and composes herself. She wrings out her hair and stands up.

ELSA: (half to herself) To regain control of my powers, I need to control these feelings for Marie - and avoiding my feelings has never gone well for anyone. 

She gives Anna a wry smile.

ELSA (CONT’D): So, I’ll see her at the ball, I’ll ask her to dance… If she says yes, then we’ll dance, (trails off, bewildered by her own thoughts)

ANNA: _And?_

ELSA: And _whatever_ happens next with this (embarrassed to even say it) _love,_ I’ll face it. Then, I won’t have to obsess anymore.

Elsa is still flushed and anxious, but this bold plan of action has restored her confidence.

ANNA: (setting aside her reservations) Alright. Let’s get you a girlfriend!

Elsa smiles, grateful for her support.

ELSA: (eager) First, let’s finish my dress.

A large wardrobe takes up most of one wall of the dressing room, Elsa goes and opens it. She pushes aside Anna’s big hoop skirts, and digs into the back.

ELSA (CONT’D): There’s an old gown in here that can work as a base. I’ll need your help for the adjustments…

ANNA: (getting hype) I’ll send for Gerda, and the handmaids!

ELSA: Oh, of course, them too. I forgot how much of a hassle it all is the normal way.

We see Elsa from inside the wardrobe as she searches. Her eyes widen - she spots something, grabs it, and blue skirts sweep over our view.

**INT. GUEST DRESSING ROOM - MIDDAY**

The gowns are half-destructed on their dummies, bodices, bloomers, underskirts and garter ribbons are strewn about the floor and over chairs. In the eye of this storm of cotton and silk is Marie, a victim of her own hubris. She wears four underskirts of three different patterns, a bustle over the top of them. She’s contorting herself, trying to lace up her own corset.

MARIE: (hissing under her breath) Why is everything backwards?!

The Firebird is perched on one of the dummies, above the chaos.

THE FIREBIRD: (cocking its head) Backwards is forwards, for the servants you said you didn’t need.

Marie pauses in her struggle, narrows her eyes at the bird.

MARIE: I said _…_ (dawning comprehension) _Oh_ , I must have sounded ridiculous to them! (cringing)

She slumps into a chair, skirts creaking, and the corset pops off her waist. 

MARIE: (sardonic) I _am_ ridiculous. How am I supposed to pull this off for a ball, much less every day after, when I can’t even dress as Marie?

Marie slides the corset the rest of the way off and flings it at a dummy. The under-blouse she has on is not quite the right fit - Anna overestimated, and Marie’s shoulders swim in the neckline.

THE FIREBIRD: (confused) But you _are_ Marie. How else can you be dressed?

MARIE: (half-laughing) I can’t very well stroll up to Elsa, her dashing heroine, fifty feet tall, in _pants!_

Marie does an exaggerated swaggering walk, kicking aside skirts for emphasis.

THE FIREBIRD: (pedantic) You _can_ wear pants _-_

MARIE: (annoyed eye-flutter) Yes - literally - I _can_ , but I _should_ not. I don’t want her to -

THE FIREBIRD: (trilling over her) You don’t _truly want_ to wear any of these dresses, even if you could.

Marie glares at the bird, but doesn’t have a retort. She casts her eye sullenly on the various disemboweled gowns.

THE FIREBIRD: It’s up to you, of course, if you do what you want. If you ask for help, or if you don’t. You know where to find it.

The Firebird flickers out as a flame, leaving only a wisp of smoke.

MARIE: (mocking the Firebird’s chirp) _I knooow I knooow._

But then she sighs, steels herself, and starts shedding the bustle.

**EXT. ARENDELLE STREETS - MIDDAY**

Kristoff, Ryder, and their reindeer are just outside the castle gates, on their way into town. Activity surrounds them as the whole kingdom readies for the public ball. Bjorn the baker and his assistants go by with trays of full sized ice-cream cakes, the brewer with barrels of pilsner, the weaver with armfuls of tablecloths patterned with traditional crocuses. Ryder stares around at everything - a tourist. Kristoff is snacking on some horderves, put off by all the bustle. The guys are in the middle of a discussion.

KRISTOFF: You’re alright as you are, really.

RYDER: I know, but I want the authentic experience!

KRISTOFF: (enjoying, if not sharing, Ryder’s enthusiasm) Ok, I’m just warning you, the monkey suit always makes me look like a jerk.

RYDER: Oh, no doubt - but a cute jerk.

KRISTOFF: (While holding a dainty mini-cupcake) Excuse you, I am a _rugged mountain man._

MARIE: (O.S.) Oh, if it isn’t my favorite reindeer couple! 

Kristoff and Ryder look around to see her sidling up to them - back in yesterday’s burned out dress and simple bodice with the scabbard slung around her waist. Her tone is casual - like she just happened to bump into them - but she has a carrot and some berries on hand that she feeds to Sven and Sonja respectively.

KRISTOFF: Hey!

RYDER: Marie!

MARIE: (friendly) Hey. Mind if I tag along?

KRISTOFF: (surprised) Sure - we’re just going to the tailor.

RYDER: I thought you had to spend, like, hours being sewn into one of those poofy anti-breathing tunics. (he makes a gesture on his waist)

MARIE: (pride bruised) Oh, _you_ know how that works, do you?

RYDER: (shrugging) Hey, it’s what my sister told me. I tell her we should respect your differences, and she’s all “but they tried to destroy our way of life”.

MARIE: (light) Well, a gown doesn’t exactly go with the sword… Or, to be honest, with _me_. (she gives Kristoff a cautious glance)

KRISTOFF: (encouraging) I hear you - and the guy we’re going to see can help. (finishing the horderve plate) He fits all my king stuff, so I don’t feel like I’m in a full-body bind.

RYDER: (teasing aside) You mean, no more than you _want_ to be.

Kristoff chokes a bit on a cupcake. Marie glances between the two men, raising an eyebrow.

KRISTOFF: (a little pink, to Marie) Ignore him, he knows _nothing_ about the rigors of palace life.

Marie stops for a beat, absorbing the implication, before following Kristoff and Ryder into town.

Heads turn for the King and his consorts, but people are too busy with party prep to approach them. Marie’s eyes flick from face to face of the Arendellians - stealing glimpses of familiarity before quickly averting her gaze whenever someone looks to her.

RYDER: (to Marie) So - this is weird, but I have to ask - what’s the deal with you and the sword? Do you think the magic is like a reward for something? Or maybe the spirits have a destiny for you? 

MARIE: (uncomfortable) Does there need to be a deal?

RYDER: (teasing) For you heathens, yeah.

Ryder appraises her with an odd expression, his good humor covering a kind of pointed testing.

MARIE: The sword is the Firebird, and I am her knight. (apologetic) If there's more at play with your spirits than that, I don’t know it. 

RYDER: (a bit relieved) Well, you fought the volcano - that’s some hardcore spirit stuff.

KRISTOFF: (conversational) And you guys did _win_ , right? No more cracks, or _surprise_ giant lava lizards. Mundspell’s gonna sleep tight, now?

MARIE: The whole mountainside is coated in glaciers - Elsa believes that will hold.

KRISTOFF: And what do _you_ think? Will her powers be enough to protect us?

MARIE: (about to answer affirmative) Well -

THE FIREBIRD: (chirpy) _No!_ No, no.

Marie sees the Firebird perched on one of Sonja’s antlers. Kristoff and Ryder don’t notice her presence, or register her high pitched chirp as anything but a bird call. The Firebird makes eye contact with Marie - confirming that she heard her correctly - and bobs her head, expectantly.

MARIE: I _think_ the threat isn’t over.

The Firebird fluffs her feathers, as if to say “good enough.”

KRISTOFF: (sighs) I figured.

RYDER: Yeah… Yelana says that we should respect Elsa’s magic, like all nature, but she is still human and has limits.

KRISTOFF: Elsa doesn’t seem to know them. She keeps telling us she has everything under control and it’s clearly not.

They pass by some local children - their eyes light up when they see the big fluffy reindeer. Ryder brings Sven and Sonja over to them and supervises an impromptu petting zoo. Kristoff and Marie hang back. 

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (worried, watching Ryder and the children) I love Elsa, too, but we need to be prepared for when her powers aren’t enough. And I don’t know how to tell that to Anna.

Sonja dips her head for some pets, and the Firebird flutters off her antler.

MARIE: (prompting) The Queen won’t question her sister?

KRISTOFF: Well, she _used_ to. Elsa’s always been kind of reckless, but Anna would bring her back to earth. Then last fall happened, Elsa left for her destiny with spirits, and now Anna just… (struggles to articulate) takes Elsa’s word that whatever she’s doing out there _must_ be good for us. (frustrated) I don’t get it.

The Firebird settles on a garden plot lining the street. She spies a worm, and starts trying to tug it out.

MARIE: You don’t? But, Anna’s an open book… (hearing how that sounds) In the _best way_. If Elsa has a destiny apart from her, _of course_ Anna must believe it’s really for her sake. Any doubt in her sister now would be too painful to live with.

KRISTOFF: (frowns at Marie) Where is this coming from?

MARIE: (innocent) Just, what I’ve _gathered_ , and what I’ve been told _._ Anna grew up desperate for love, because everyone who was supposed to be there for her died, or shut her out, or (slight catch in her voice) let her down.

The Firebird yanks the worm out of the dirt, tosses it in the air. Then she shifts her form to a golden flame, frying the worm to ash in an instant. The flame dissipates to wisps.

KRISTOFF: (gruff) Yeah, I’m her husband - I know all that, and she’s come a long way since then. It’s the past, isn’t it?

MARIE: (blunt) You’re her husband - you tell me. Do you think those fears are over?

Kristoff considers, unconsciously touching his chest.

KRISTOFF: (pensive, uneasy) I guess not… 

The local children run along, Sven returns to Kristoff’s side, but Ryder and Sonja go a little ways ahead.

RYDER: (calling back, facetious) Hey, Kristoff - is this the hut of traditional southern garb? With your village makeover man?

They’ve reached the tailory - a humble storefront with light mauve paint. Inside the window we see a prim gentleman with neatly parted hair dusting off a display. The tailor sees the ominous shadow of antlers on the cream colored suits. He gulps, looks up, and forces a smile at the two reindeer blinking at him.

KRISTOFF: (pushing open the door to the shop) Yup, that’s my guy! He can make it happen - if you know what you want.

They walk inside and Marie takes in the familiar world of men’s fashion with a discerning eye - suit jackets, waistcoats, cravats and cufflinks.

MARIE: (smiling to herself) For once, I think I might.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested listening:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv3yIv9nwf8&ab_channel=NUMBXERS
> 
> https://youtu.be/sn3cHUtNZKo
> 
> https://youtu.be/OAr2Stq4Hls


	8. Petals in the Air

ACT TWO

SEQUENCE E

**INT. ELSA AND ANNA’S ICE PALACE - LATE AFTERNOON**

We pull in on the ice palace, down past the swirling vines of the canopy, the winter rose chandelier, the columns with crystalized hanging gardens, and the giant bouquets lining the glazed dance floor. The courtyard is full of guests in suits, dresses, and a few Northuldra tunics, dancing, eating, laughing. A small band plays light pastoral music.

Anna and Elsa are together at the edge of the dance floor. Elsa looks magnificent. The gown she made with Anna’s assistance is deep ultramarine with aqua accents, high neck, diamond cut open back and shoulders, with lush ruffles cascading the length of her skirts like a waterfall. Her white blonde hair is loosely pinned to the side with ruby red winter roses.

Anna waves and smiles at the guests as they pass, while Elsa peers around the crowd, searching. Then she stops, eyes wide, staring.

Lounging by a column studded with hellebore, at a distance from the crowd, is Marie. She wears a midnight black suit jacket with white accents - cinched for a feminine silhouette, a red silk cravat, and knee high black boots with gold lining the top - matching the Arendelle crest on her scabbard. The jacket and boots are embellished with flame-like detailing - red and gold. The back of her hair is twisted up in a simple feminine bun at the crown of her head, leaving the side-locks loose in the front.

The whole strikingly androgynous ensemble is completed by Marie’s pensive, nigh brooding expression. She picks a frost coated flower off the column, and breathes on it. Her warm breath melts the ice, and she flicks the water droplets off the edge of the petals.

BACK TO: **ELSA** , spellbound.

Anna is beside her, also staring at Marie.

ANNA: (a little hurt) I guess she really didn’t need my help.

With a sudden rustle of skirts, Elsa hides behind a giant bouquet - out of Marie’s line of sight if she were to look up. Elsa’s face is flushed, and she puts a hand to her chest.

ELSA: I can’t do this - she’s too beautiful.

Anna suppresses a giggle at that. She puts a hand on Elsa’s shoulder, and looks her in the eyes.

ANNA: (firm) And you are beautifull _er._ Now go and sweep her off her feet.

ELSA: (anxious) But what if she doesn't feel the same - maybe yesterday was all in my head! And what if I come on too strong - maybe tomorrow she’ll be gone again.

ANNA: Maybe lots of things! She’s here now, because you invited her. You know that much, right?

ELSA: Right.

Elsa takes a deep breath and moves out from behind the bouquet. Anna gives her a little push off the shoulder.

_As Anna watches Elsa go, she begins to sing._

_Don’t_ _think about yesterdays, don’t ask about tomorrows. What’s real is now._

\- Marie leans against the column, her thoughts elsewhere as she picks petals off the thawed flower and watches them fall to the stone floor, glazed like a mirror. Ruffled skirts flow into view, and Marie looks up to see Elsa. Elsa gives her a shy smile. Marie returns Elsa’s look with interest, flicking her eyes down her figure - admiring her dress.

_You’re_ _here for her, she’s here for you - here for the moment, here for this dance._

\- Elsa tentatively holds out a hand to Marie. Marie straightens off the pillar - letting the rest of the flower fall - and takes it.

_You’re_ _at the edge of what came before, the brink of all that will be. It may be the high point of your time together, or it may be just the start to something greater than you can imagine. It may be a fling, it may be a mistake, or it may be forever._

\- Marie and Elsa move to the dance floor together. Guests part for them, heads turn. They stare at Marie, in her suit, with her sword, on Elsa’s arm, like she’s an otherworldly being. Under their gaze, Marie’s mouth thins. Her shoulders tense, and her brow lowers - wary, verging on confrontational.

\- Elsa sees Marie’s fears as plainly as though they were her own. She glides in front of her, puts a reassuring hand on her other arm, and draws Marie’s gaze to only her. Marie puts her hand on Elsa’s waist.

_But for now, for this moment, this dance is what you’ve got. So you give it your all._

\- Marie and Elsa begin to dance. Marie leads, Elsa follows, and their eyes never leave each other.

_The music continues, transitioning._

\- We cut to a different pair on the dance floor - Kristoff and Ryder. Kristoff is in a grassy green suit - matching the crystal in his wedding ring - with blue and pink accents. Ryder is in a cream colored suit with light gold accents, and a sky blue cravat to match his eyes - classic, and more than a little flamboyant.

RYDER: (hand on Kristoff’s arm, ready to dance) You’ll have to start, I have no idea what I’m doing.

But Kristoff’s attention is elsewhere. He sees Anna, alone by the bouquets where Elsa left her.

KRISTOFF: (patting Ryder’s hand as he steps away) Actually, right now, I think I’m needed. 

He gestures in Anna’s direction, and Ryder gets the picture.

RYDER: _Oh!_ Of course, gotcha.

KRISTOFF: Thanks. (hangs back a moment) You’ll be alright?

RYDER: Sure, yeah, I’ll figure it out… 

Ryder glances to the side, eyeing a strapping Arendelle man who somehow hasn’t found a partner yet. Kristoff gives Ryder an encouraging shoulder punch, and heads over to his wife.

Anna watches Marie and Elsa dance. As the light shines behind their figures, Elsa twirls, her dress flowing out around her, to be caught by Marie, tall and handsome. There’s something uncannily familiar about their silhouettes to Anna. Her eyes narrow slightly.

Then her view is blocked as Kristoff steps before her. Anna is pleasantly surprised to see him dressed up. 

_Kristoff sings Anna’s melody back to her, steering the song into more of a ballad._

_May I have this dance?_

\- He bows, holding out his hand,

_May I have this moment? May I have your yesterdays and tomorrows? For now, forever, may we have this time together?_

\- Anna’s face lights up with devotion.

_Anna sings, we may._

\- She takes Kristoff’s hand, and pulls him to the dance floor.

_Anna and Kristoff duet. I’m here for you, you’re here for me. I’m here to give you all I am._

\- Anna and Kristoff dance. Anna leads and Kristoff follows. They don’t do too much fancy choreography - Kristoff’s footwork isn’t really up to that - favoring a cozy slow dance. 

_A moment may be fragile, but what we have is something real, something time can’t take away. Everywhere our paths have gone - over the edge, past the brink - and wherever we may go, to heights greater still, step by step, I am with you._

\- Anna leans on Kristoff’s chest, and Kristoff rests his chin on her forehead.

\- The late day sun streams through the flower petals in the lattice canopy, sparkling off the ice work and dappling the floor with color. We see the whole scope of the ball - General Mattias in the arms of his beloved Halima, Northuldra guests finding their own rhythm with the foreign music, Ryder enjoying an exclusively gay moment with the Arendelle man, Sven and Sonja wearing matching bows - Sonja’s on her head, Sven’s on his neck. In the background, at the refreshment table full of ice cream cakes, Olaf is getting into a punch bowl.

\- Elsa and Marie dance among the frozen sculptures of spirits. As Elsa flourishes her arms for the dance, the ice thaws and flows upward. The spirit figures break apart into water fountains, spraying fine showers of shimmering droplets. 

The music transitions.

\- Elsa gives Marie a searching look, pursing her lips. Marie draws her close. 

MARIE: There’s something you want to ask.

ELSA: (blushing) It would be too much - we’re almost strangers. (halting) Yet, somehow, I feel like you know me.

MARIE: (both wry and warm) I’d say I know you almost as well as I know myself.

Marie breaks Elsa’s gaze and looks askance, the shadow of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Elsa takes a breath. 

ELSA: (tentative) There’s a place I want to take you. Do you remember the special river, from the story last night?

MARIE: The glacier?

ELSA: Ahtohallan. Where the memories you lost could be found, where you could learn who you really are. (longing) I could show you. 

MARIE: (soft) Aren’t you afraid you might not like who you find there?

ELSA: Not at all.

_The music swells, Anna and Kristoff sing with a chorus from the rest of the ball._ _Dance up to the brink, dance on the edge. Dance for the moment that holds you together between yesterday and tomorrow._

\- Marie and Elsa dance through golden shafts of light as flower petals drift down above them.

\- On the other side of the courtyard, Anna and Kristoff dance. They pass by the refreshment table, where Olaf’s head is visible inside a large punch bowl.

Anna and Kristoff notice Olaf and their song ends. 

ANNA: (a bit relieved to see him) Oh, there you are!

OLAF: (subdued) Here I am.

KRISTOFF: (teasing) Olaf, is this where you’ve been the whole party? Come dance with us!

OLAF: Olaf cannot dance, or do anything, for I am but the shadow of he - the ideal Olaf, who has never existed.

ANNA: (sympathetic, but bemused) Aw, Olaf, of course you exist. Now, how about you exist outside of the punch that people drink.

OLAF: Alas, it is futile. Anna, this thing you call Olaf is an illusion of an illusion. (matter of fact) Also, my body and feet have melted into the punch.

Olaf bobs his head in the punch, spilling some out the sides. Anna and Kristoff break their dancing positions to go over and get a better look at his predicament. Olaf’s arms are stuck upright in the slush mound that was his body and they waggle their finger tips in greeting.

KRISTOFF: (peering into the Olaf-diluted punch) What. Why? Is something wrong with Elsa’s powers?

ANNA: (too quickly) _No,_ she’s fine.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (aside) Who can say where I end and the punch begins? 

ANNA: Ok, there was a little trouble with her dress this morning. She’s got her first crush and it’s really done a number on her. (marveling) You’ll never guess _who_ -

KRISTOFF: (it’s obvious) Marie. Well, good for them, but aren’t you concerned about this? 

ANNA: (offended) Of course not! I mean, Marie’s got her issues - like _whoa_ , not for me. But, I’ll trust whoever Elsa feels is right for her.

KRISTOFF: (looking around the ice palace, wary) That’s not what I’m getting at.

CUT TO: **ELSA AND MARIE** , dancing their way to the open center of the palace. The warm air is thick with falling petals. The floor of the courtyard sparkles, wet. Shallow splashes of water are kicked up by heels and swishing skirts.

Marie slips on a puddle, falling backward, and Elsa catches her. They gaze at each other, holding the moment.

A drop of water hits Marie’s forehead. Then another. She looks past Elsa’s face, to the massive, dripping, winter rose chandelier hanging over their heads.

The slender stem snaps.

Elsa hears the snap, and looks up in time to see the chandelier falling. Marie pushes herself up, into the path of the chandelier, spinning Elsa around by the waist with one hand and drawing her blade with the other.

With a stroke of the sword, a high blast of flame cleaves the winter rose in two. The chandelier halves crash to the floor on either side of Marie and Elsa, shrapnel fragments scattering on the impact. Guests scream.

ACROSS THE ROOM: **ANNA and KRISTOFF** turn to see the wreckage. Anna runs straight into the fray with Elsa at the heart of it.

ANNA: (calling over heads of guests) Elsa! Are you ok?

PALACE CENTER: **ELSA** , who can’t hear her sister. She hears the guests shouting, sees them run. Shards of half-thawed ice and flowers hail down, the lattice canopy caving in. Columns groan. The whole structure is coming apart, all at once.

ELSA: (panicked) Everyone, stay calm! I can fix it! 

She twists away from Marie, and quickly sweeps out her arms. She casts her power at shattered vine-work on the floor - trying to raise the canopy back up, and at the collapsing columns - trying to save guests. Thick icicle stalagmites grow from shards on the floor, turning the dance floor into a deadly maze. Jagged ice spikes shoot out, catching the columns. The guests barely survive, scrambling across the flooding courtyard. We hear them call to each other, warnings, cries for help.

ELSA: (shrill) I’m sorry! I’ll control it, I’m not a monster, _I’m not!_

Elsa wrings her hands, breathing fast and deep. She sees the eyes all around her, their fear, their anger. Marie grabs her wrist, Elsa looks to her, eyes wild.

MARIE: (pulling her from the dance floor, toward the edge of the courtyard) _Elsa,_ you need to get out of here! 

ELSA: (struggling against Marie, ice crystals at her palm) Get away from me! Please, I’m dangerous!

Marie squeezes Elsa’s hand, holding the cold power in Elsa’s palm with a hot glow around her own.

MARIE: (fierce)So am I. And I’m going with you. 

CUT TO: **ANNA** , running through the panicking crowd, around the destroyed dance floor. A broken edge of the chandelier catches her gown, tearing the skirts. She sees Marie and Elsa fleeing the courtyard. 

ANNA: _Elsa!_

**EXT. ARENDELLE CASTLE - EARLY EVENING**

Marie and Elsa run down a path familiar to both of them - out of the courtyard, through a stone side passageway, and down to the edge of the fjord. Elsa looks back - she sees the top of the floral ice palace as it crumbles. We hear shrieks in the distance.

Marie taps the tip of the Firebird sword to the surface of the water. The water steams, and ripples in response to the Firebird’s magic, recognizing her. Then, the water nokk rises up.

MARIE: (stepping back, giving him space) Whoa, easy.

The nokk snorts at Marie, annoyed at being woken up, but his eyes soften when he sees Elsa behind her. Elsa runs up to him and touches her forehead to his nose.

ELSA: (to the nokk) Take us away.

The nokk bows, Elsa mounts him, and then she helps Marie up. They lock eyes, inches apart, sharing a horror mixed with exhilaration, awe, and a kind of feverish joy in the escape and each other. They kiss. 

Anna arrives through the side passage.

ANNA: (yelling) Elsa, I’m here!

Marie breaks the kiss. Elsa spares a pained glance for her sister, and then urges the nokk forward.

ELSA: Let’s go!

Anna runs to the water's edge, arms outstretched. 

ANNA: (crying) Wait! _Please!_

But they’re already gone. The nokk carries them across the fjord, Marie’s arms wrapped around Elsa’s shoulders, ruffled skirts rippling in the wind.

**EXT. CASTLE COURTYARD - EARLY EVENING**

The spring palace has imploded. Delicate crystalline architecture and wicked spikes thaw and crumble, turning the courtyard into a shallow lake of flowers that would be enchanting if it weren’t so hazardous. The servants close the castle doors to the flooding. Guests flee in a panicked mass across the bridge to safety.

Kristoff is where the dance floor used to be, calve-deep in water, holding onto Sven with one hand, and clutching Punch Bowl Olaf in his other, searching.

KRISTOFF: (calling) Anna!

SVEN: *bellows*

RYDER: (calling) Kristoff! You’re ok!

Ryder is with Sonja - his dance partner lost in the crowd. He wades over to Kristoff. Sonja and Sven bump noses, relieved to see each other.

KRISTOFF: Where’s Anna? Did she get out?

RYDER: (looking around to the edge of the courtyard) She followed Elsa and - there she is!

Anna has returned from the courtyard passage, looking desolate, her tattered skirts soaked and heavy. Kristoff hurries her side. Ryder follows a little behind him, giving the couple space.

KRISTOFF: Anna! Are you alright?

He sets down Punch Bowl Olaf so he can put an arm around her shoulder. Kristoff gently guides Anna through the waters, toward the courtyard gates, to the kingdom. Olaf’s bowl starts to float off, but Sven catches him with his hoof.

ANNA: (in shock) Elsa left, with Marie. She saw me, and she just… _ran_. Like I don’t matter. Like nothing has changed.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (his head floating face-up in the punch, rotating like a compass needle) Life is a flat circle, going round, and round, and round -

KRISTOFF: Maybe they left to fix the volcano, if Elsa even can in this state. (nervous)

Anna stops and stares at Kristoff, anguished and confused.

ANNA: _Elsa_ _is gone._ How are you even thinking about the volcano thing?

KRISTOFF: (on edge) Anna, if Elsa’s powers are out of control, if Olaf is melting, _then_ _what’s_ _happening to the volcano?_ (softens) I know you want to believe in Elsa, but Marie said -

ANNA: (incensed) _Marie?_ Why are you listening to Marie?

Anna brushes his hand off her shoulder and steps back from him.

ANNA (CONT’D): Why does _everyone_ trust her? She just showed up yesterday, _out of nowhere_ , with an insanely powerful magical weapon that she says belongs to her, while also claiming to have _amnesia_ \- like, _really?_ (incredulous)

Ryder and Kristoff exchange a glance - Kristoff taken aback, Ryder a bit sheepish. 

ANNA (CONT’D): But I’m so _stupid_ , I just went along with it! I wanted to be her friend, so I let her into our home, and (almost too outraged for words) and now she’s run off with my sister!

KRISTOFF: (feeling this is unfair) Hang on, but she -

ANNA: (steamrolling) I _know_ Elsa knows better - this isn’t her, this is Marie. _She’s_ the reason Olaf is melting, why Elsa lost control - she pulled her away. But I won’t let her. _Come on!_

Anna scoops up Punch Bowl Olaf, hikes her skirts, and stalks off across the courtyard. She heads not for the gates to the kingdom, but to the ramparts that lead to the mountains - stomping through a drowning bouquet as she goes. Kristoff and Sven jog to keep up, Ryder and Sonja trailing in their wake.

KRISTOFF: (alarmed) Anna, wait!

**EXT. CASTLE RAMPARTS - EARLY EVENING**

Kristoff and Sven catch up to Anna as she steps out onto the walkway overlooking the kingdom lands, atop the ramparts stretching into the mountains beyond. 

KRISTOFF: Where are you going?

ANNA: _We_ are going where we should have gone yesterday - to the trolls, to get real answers on who Marie is and what she wants with Elsa.

She motions to the distant black mountains in the south.

KRISTOFF: Anna, you can’t leave now - Arendelle is facing a crisis.

He points down to the kingdom, where we see the huddled crowd of citizens by the chapel.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): If Mundspell erupts, there could be earthquakes, more fire lizards - I don’t know, but ash for days at least. Your people need you!

ANNA: (impassioned) _Elsa_ needs me!

Kristoff gets in front of her, forcing her to look at him.

KRISTOFF: (brutal) Anna, you’re not thinking clearly. Elsa leaving with Marie is not the end of the world, you just feel like it is because everyone left when you were a child.

Almost as soon as he says it, Kristoff knows he has gone too far. Sven snorts reproachfully. Anna glares at him, eyes red with tears, wounded and furious. 

ANNA: (voice trembling) So, you’re saying my feelings are irrational _,_ and _you_ think _I'm_ avoiding my duty.

KRISTOFF: (sputtering, horrified with himself) No, that’s not -

ANNA: You suddenly care so much about _my_ people and what’s good for them? Then you could _actually try_ _to be a king for once!_

Anna steps forward. Kristoff steps back.

ANNA (CONT’D): (voice thick) I am going to save my sister, _like always_ , with or without you.

Anna moves to get around him. Kristoff yields. 

ANNA (CONT’D): And I’m _taking Sven!_

Giving Kristoff a severe look, Sven follows Anna and lets her mount him. She urges Sven forward with one hand, holding Punch Bowl Olaf secure on her knees with the other, and they ride off across ramparts toward the wilderness.

Ryder and Sonja come up behind Kristoff as he watches them go.

RYDER: Uh, wow. That was… rough.

KRISTOFF: (numb) Could have gone better. 

RYDER: _Yeah…_

He puts a sympathetic hand on Kristoff’s arm. Sonja gives a worried moan.

RYDER (CONT’D): (slowly) Kristoff, if you’re right, and the volcano about to erupt, then everyone in the north needs to move south. Like, _now._

KRISTOFF: (blinking a few times, to take in what Ryder is saying) Sure, of course, we’ll send a message with Gale.

RYDER: Right, but this is a huge thing to tell them. A note from _Arendelle_ , that’s not going to be enough for Yelana. (realizing what has to be done as he says it) I think _I’ve_ got to be the message.

Ryder steps away from Kristoff and mounts Sonja. Kristoff grabs his arm, holding him back. 

KRISTOFF: Wait, you can’t leave, too! I-I mean, (he stumbles over his words) we don’t know how much time there is, you might not -

RYDER: (afraid and determined) I know, but they’re my people. I’ve got to try.

Kristoff nods, understanding and admiring his friend, but his grip tightens.

RYDER (CONT’D): And you have to tell _your_ people. We’re counting on you, Your Majestifullness. (flashes a grin)

Ryder returns the arm-grip, both as an encouragement and a goodbye.

KRISTOFF: (finally letting Ryder go) I’ll try.

**EXT. OUTSIDE THE KINGDOM GATES - EVENING**

Sonja gallops across the castle bridge, and Ryder whistles out an urgent call.

We hear the whistle returned, and see a gust of wind blow down from the north. The wind sylph gains speed and power as she flows around Arendelle castle, through the kingdom gates, and under Sonja’s hooves. With a gale-force wind, Ryder and Sonja whip through Arendelle’s streets - past the chapel where townsfolk and Northuldra are gathered, past the shops, buffeting Bjorn the baker and the tailor, past Halima and General Mattias. Mattias catches a glimpse of Ryder before he’s gone, a streak of loose tree blossoms in his wake.

The people turn, looking up to the gates. The King of Arendelle stands before them, appearing small and lost. He takes a breath, preparing to say what he thinks he knows.

We see Kristoff’s view of his kingdom, his people, their confused and unsteady faces. We pull back and in the distance we see the two reindeer speeding away. Ryder and Sonja, a streak heading north, and Anna and Sven, a patch of emerald and brown heading south. The sky is darkening on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9viz44KmhE&ab_channel=adelsasumi
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeWBS0JBNzQ
> 
> https://youtu.be/chSZCtLrgz8


	9. The Theater of Memory

ACT TWO

SEQUENCE F1

CUT TO: **ELSA** AND **MARIE,** northward bound.

**EXT. DARK SEA - SUNSET**

_We hear the first notes of a soaring siren call._

\- The nokk’s hooves skim the surface of the sea, near flying. The sky above them burns gold with streaks of ruby red.

_To a pulsing beat that matches the galloping nokk, Elsa sings to Marie._

_I lost control, I lost myself - I’d feel ashamed, but with you I’m not. You felt it too, their terrible gaze, you knew we had to escape to where it’s only us and the wind and the sea._

\- Elsa holds out her arms, and ice crystals flow uninhibited from her fingertips. Marie grins at the sight.

_I’m_ _not the monster they fear, but I wasn’t born to be in their world. I know my place._

\- In the near distance, we see Ahtohallan, in rich indigo shadows, the vibrant light of the sunset glistening off the glacier’s jagged outline.

_My place is beautiful, dangerous, and free. It’s everything I wanted to find, and I never imagined anyone else had the power to see it._

\- Marie is glowing again, insulated with the Firebird’s magic. She presses her lips to the back of Elsa’s neck. Elsa feels the warmth, and closes her fists, allowing the crystals to melt into droplets showering the waves in their wake.

_Now, more than anything, I want to take you there. (Marie harmonizes with Elsa; take me there.)_

\- They near the foot of the frozen river. Up close, Ahtohallan appears much different from how we saw it last. The icebergs leading up to the glacier are now pillars emblazoned with the elemental symbols. The raw facade is smooth with mirror-like fractals expanding from the cave entrance - a perfect triangle cut into the ice.

_Elsa sings on - But this is the moment where you can’t glance away. You have to give in to those feelings too deep to speak of, face the secrets too dark to name._

\- They reach the shore, Elsa and Marie slide off the nokk, who melts into the sea. Without slowing, Elsa takes Marie’s hand and leads her to the entrance. Marie is enraptured by the glacier’s beauty, but there’s a kind of overwhelming terror in her eyes as well.

_I’m_ _taking you to the deepest part of myself. I’m not at all afraid of who we’ll find in the dark - are you?_

\- Marie takes a deep breath. They cross the threshold. 

_Marie sings._

_The truth is, I am afraid. I fear a life’s worth of feelings and secrets, I fear they won’t be what you want to find. (Elsa harmonizes; don’t be ashamed.)_

\- They pass through a labyrinth of ice chambers and passageways, covered in crystalline patterns. 

_I fear you’ll see me as someone I’m not anymore, someone who isn’t your heroine. I fear I’ll be lost in there. (Elsa harmonizes; I’ll find you, I know the way.)_

\- They enter a cavernous chamber, Marie stares up into the darkness, unable to see where it ends. Elsa beckons her down another corridor, smiling.

_Marie sings on. But you know what it’s like to have parts of yourself that you could never share, too deep to speak of, too dark to name._

\- They cross an elaborate bridge, over a chasm between one chamber and another.

_If anyone could ever truly see me and want me for who I am, it’s you. I want it to be you._

\- They enter the main hall, lined with massive pillars that lead up to a dizzying vaulted ceiling, echoing the form of a chapel - made of ice instead of wood - with crystalline stained glass. There’s a high triangular window to darkness in the place of the pulpit. Elsa and Marie head straight for it.

_Elsa sings the siren call and Marie sings over her. So, take me to the deepest part of yourself. Take me into the dark. I’ll be your heroine and brave it._

\- Marie and Elsa step through the window, and the hall they came from seems to melt into the darkness surrounding them. A white snowflake sigil with crystals of the four elements around it lights up on the floor beneath Elsa’s feet in soft aqua colors. Elsa leads Marie by the hand to the center of the snowflake.

_We can be beautiful, dangerous, and free._

\- Elsa gestures to the snowflake sigil, and the fractals fan out before Marie in a circular wave, expanding, building into something huge.

_Marie harmonizes with Elsa’s siren call, matching her power at a deeper pitch._

Elsa raises her arms, and the ice radiates from her and Marie in waves. The ice grows up like slow-motion ripples from a stone dropped in a pond, or like a crater, flowing outward and upward from the bottom, each ring higher than the last.

The center of the sigil beneath Marie’s feet begins to rise, a solid column of ice lifting her and Elsa off the floor - a dais, though still far below the rim of the ice crater, which is almost too high to be seen in the darkness above them.

Elsa motions to the elemental crystals set in the bottom of the crater and they are lifted up on their edges around the dais. She raises her arms and bright beams of color - magenta, cyan, green, and purple - shoot out from crystals, bathing Marie and herself in a pillar of cold light that for a moment washes out the heat of the Firebird. The light shoots over their heads, high into the darkness, and bursts in a dazzling plume of snow powder.

Elsa begins conducting the snow powder, channeling it down and around the crater basin. She whips the snow into a blizzard, faster and faster, back to back with Marie, who turns as she turns. From the eye of the storm, Marie sees shapes, faces, people taking form in the flurries. The figures are drawn out of the darkness, as if they had already been there as invisible spectres.

Elsa lowers her arms and the blizzard subsides. Marie blinks loose snowflakes out of her eyes. 

By the soft ambient light of the elemental crystals, we see that the ice crater Elsa conjured isn’t a crater at all - it’s an amphitheater. Precisely circular, so deep and wide that the edges fade blue into the surrounding darkness.

From the raised dais at the bottom - the stage - Marie and Elsa look out at the rows and rows filled with statues where an audience ought to have been. Life-size figures of snow and ice, perfectly still, caught in motion, fragments of time, surround them.

Marie stares around the theater, trying to make sense of it all.

MARIE: What… What are these?

ELSA: (gentle) They’re your memories, Marie. Look - there’s you, as a little girl.

Marie turns sharply, and sees Elsa pointing to a snow statue on the first stage, at level with the dais, within arms reach. It’s the figure of a girl, no more than six or seven.

ELSA: See her eyes? They’re just like yours. The smile, too. 

Indeed, the eyes of the snow statue are the same shape as Marie’s, but white and hollow. The snow girl has shoulder-length hair and wears a dress. She’s frozen in mid-run, a big grin on her face.

Marie is speechless at the sight.

Tentatively, the glow of the Firebird flickering over her skin, Marie steps off the dais and onto the step where the snow girl is. Elsa follows her.

As they approach the snow girl, the fragment of time she’s caught in begins to creep forward. She runs, dream-like, around the first level of the amphitheatre.

Marie watches the snow girl with wet eyes. Elsa tugs Marie aside, giving space for half a dozen other running snow statues of children. They chase the girl with toy swords and paper crowns. We hear laughter as if from far away.

Then, when she's about half-way around the amphitheatre, the snow girl trips and falls. Marie flinches.

ELSA: (endeared gasp) Oh no!

The other snow children catch up to her - the closest one is a boy. He raises his toy sword, sneering, brings it down, and is blocked by a snow stick in the snow girl’s hand. She gets to her feet, forcing him back.

ELSA: (teasing) So strong.

A small smile tugs at the corner of Marie’s mouth.

We hear another distant voice, and see the tall statue of a stern woman a little further around the amphitheater.

MOTHER: (V.O.) Marie! Be a good girl and get inside!

Elsa gives a little sigh of sympathy. Marie's expression crumples with tearful amazement.

Marie steps up to the next row, Elsa following her, and a new scene of snow figures plays out before them. Another statue of the mother is lacing up the corset of an older snow girl, about twelve. She’s lanky for her age, for a girl. We hear snippets of a woman’s voice, chastising. Why does Marie have to be so difficult? So different? The snow girl’s expression is sullen.

Marie walks past these figures to a little further around the amphitheater. There’s another snow Marie at the same age. She’s looking curiously at a large flat chunk of ice, shaped like a fireplace mantel, and a familiar weapon mounted above it. Behind her, the real Marie stares at it too.

MARIE: (bewildered) It’s…

ELSA: (hushed realization) The Firebird! She was always there -

We hear a high siren song, like an echo, from a long way away. The snow Marie seems to hear it too, reaching up to the sword’s handle. 

ELSA: - calling to you.

Then we hear a man’s voice, disrupting the call.

FATHER: (V.O.) That is dangerous magic, Marie. I don’t want you anywhere near it.

The tall statue of a man puts a hand on snow Marie’s shoulder, and ushers her away from the sword.

Marie’s real shoulders tense.

Marie continues to climb the amphitheater, as if in a trance. The next level up, we enter a far more elaborate scene. Snow men and snow women in nice dresses and suits. We hear the sounds of a party - glasses clinking, voices muttering. Their hollow white eyes are all looking in the same direction, past Marie and Elsa, to two figures; another snow Marie - a young woman, now - and standing across from her, a statue of a young man. He gets down on one knee, holding out an ice crystal ring. We hear a smug voice.

MAN: (V.O.) Will you be mine?

The snow Marie recoils from the snow man’s proposal. We hear Marie’s voice, not from her own mouth, but as an echo.

MARIE: (V.O.) Never. 

Elsa chuckles. Both Maries are proud, defiant. But then the snow mother appears at her back.

MOTHER: (V.O.) You have a duty.

The snow Marie closes her eyes, pained, and holds out her hand to accept the ring. We hear solemn church bells ringing.

ELSA: But you don’t belong with them.

We hear the siren call from further up. Marie and Elsa climb to the next level of the amphitheater. The aqua light from the crystals at the bottom dims the higher and deeper they go, as if a bright ocean surface lies beneath them, and they are ascending into an abyss.

The snow Marie takes the Firebird sword off the mantle.

MARIE: (V.O.) I know you’re calling me somewhere…

She holds the sword high, finding a direction.

ELSA: (excited) She called you to the north!

MARIE: (O.S. next to Elsa, quiet) She called me to you.

Another level up, they see the snow mother with her head in her hands, the snow father angry and afraid.

MARIE (CONT’D): (O.S. bitter) I broke their hearts.

Another level up, the snow Marie in a sword duel with the snow fiance - shifting ice crystals making a cold mimic of the Firebird’s flames. The snow Marie slices through her fiance’s blade. 

MARIE: (V.O. bold) But I had to go.

Another level up, they see the figure of the snow woman at the prow of a ship, holding the crystalline sword aloft in front of her, like a guiding torch.

MARIE (CONT’D): (V.O.) I had to be her knight.

MARIE: (O.S.) I always was. 

The next step up is almost consumed by darkness. Ghostly shapes of ice sculpted as wind, waves, the battered mast of a ship, churn around the amphitheater rim. We hear thunder, howling wind, and cries for help. We glimpse a snow Marie and the ice sword before a wave takes her under.

Marie lets out a violent, shuddering gasp.

ELSA: But you didn’t drown! Marie, you’re - _Marie!_

Elsa looks back at the real Marie, and stares in horror. The Firebird’s glow has left her. Marie stands in the mirage of a storm, coated in ice crystals, her fingers blue, freezing into a statue herself. Her eyes have a faraway look to them. 

ELSA: (panicking, taking Marie’s hands, seeing how dire things are) No, no, Marie, I’m sorry. This is my fault, we went too far!

MARIE: (shivering) I, no, it’s not, it’s… (the words choke in her throat)

Marie shudders again, solid blue ice creeping up her legs.

ELSA: But, _love_ \- love will thaw. Of course. You’ll be alright, you just have to kiss me again!

Marie blinks, a terrible clarity returning to her expression.

MARIE: W-what?

ELSA: _Please!_ I love you, I love every part of you, Marie!

As her body freezes, Marie stares into Elsa’s eyes, her heart breaking.

MARIE: Oh, Elsa. If only that girl were real.

Marie pushes Elsa away, and draws the Firebird sword with a wrenching motion. She can hardly stand and her hands tremble terribly. She looks down to the rows and rows of snow women and girls stretching below them, frozen tears clouding over her eyes.

MARIE: But none of this is true!

The Firebird’s flames burn up the handle, over Marie’s arms, into her chest, thawing the ice from her body. She swings the blade in a wide arc. The sword ignites and a blast of white hot flame sears across the amphitheatre, burning through the ice sculptures, melting them instantly. The water cascades down the steps, crashing to the bottom. When the fire reaches the other side of the theater, it vanishes to golden wisps. The cold light of Ahtohallan goes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://youtu.be/OE2qEpkWWoQ
> 
> https://youtu.be/CxI5C4Hel1o
> 
> https://youtu.be/zHBiylGGvc8


	10. Wreck of the World

ACT TWO

SEQUENCE F2

**INT. AHTOHALLAN - NIGHT**

The darkness isn’t complete. By the flickering firelight of the sword’s blade, we see the curving amphitheater rim.

Marie is at the edge of the rim, staring down the sheer drop to a black pit where the ice statues had been. She’s in a half-crouch, doubled over from the effort of swinging the sword, but breathing freely again. Melted tears stream down her cheeks, the ice is gone from her lungs, and the Firebird’s warm glow covers her whole body, emanating from her heart.

Elsa breathes in relief at the sight of Marie alive. But then, Elsa’s gaze is drawn to the high cavern wall illuminated behind them. Stark shadows break up the rosy glow - one silhouette is Elsa’s shadow, and a host of shades splinter from Marie’s.

There’s the shadow of a sullen boy, a young man holding out his hand with a charming smile, another man with a cruel sneer in a long coat, a woman smiling sweetly with a oversized bow in her hair. And the last shadow, the least distorted by the curve of the glacier wall, is a woman with a lowered sword - Marie’s own. But, as Elsa sees, they’re all Marie’s shadows. All her noses, all her lips, all the same part in her hair.

ELSA: (slight tremor) I don’t understand…

MARIE: (quiet, regarding her own shadows) Oh, you do. _Go on_. Who am I, really?

ELSA: (a demand) _I don’t understand._ You remembered…

MARIE: I remember.

Marie sucks in a breath, her whole body tensing, as if she’s about to jump off the edge of the pit. She then closes her eyes and draws up her posture, feet together, shoulders firm. She speaks, but it’s the shade of the charming man who seems to answer.

MARIE: (O.S.) At your coronation, I remember thinking, this was my chance. It was _so obvious_ \- I saw it in your eyes, how terrified you were of making the slightest mistake, how suffocated you felt as Queen. 

We hear the echo of Hans’ voice behind Marie’s. On the wall, the shadow of Hans holds a hand out to Elsa’s shadow.

HANS/MARIE: (V.O./O.S.) But you didn’t have to be! After I married your sister, you could step down, and _I_ would be perfect for them. It’s all I ever wanted. (earnest)

Marie looks to Elsa with a smile both bitter and wistful. Elsa grips her own hands together, like a kind of nervous praying.

MARIE (CONT’D): That’s what I could have told you that night, if you had let me. But, it never mattered, because then -

ELSA: (half to herself, ashamed) I cursed the land.

MARIE: You ruined my life. (her voice catching with a kind of rueful awe) It was as if I was trapped underwater, holding my breath, and didn’t know it, until I saw you gasping for air.

ELSA: But, I wasn’t _free,_ then. I couldn’t be, until I let myself love.

MARIE: And you did, because _you_ are a person, with a good heart.

A manic echo creeps under Marie’s voice, as though the shadow of the cruel man is speaking.

HANS/MARIE: (V.O./O.S.) But what was love to _me?_ (mocking) A handsome smile, some kind words, nothing more.

Hans’ shadow steps toward Elsa’s as he rants, looming across the wall.

HANS/MARIE (CONT’D): (V.O./O.S.) But that’s all it took for a desperate girl to put her life in my hands. _They all did_ \- they all trusted the dashing hero would save them from their witch. But I _couldn’t_ … (hands make a clawing gesture, like they’re trying to rip something out of their self)

ELSA: (quiet) You couldn’t hold your breath anymore.

MARIE: (sneering) I drowned - with a _smile_ \- and I would have dragged you down with me. But, someone saved you. You got to escape, you got to _live._ (hollow) I’ve been drowning for years.

Marie stares over the edge into the cold chasm below.

ELSA: (trying to process) But… your spirit, the Firebird, shedid call to _you_.

Marie looks back to Elsa. The shade of the sweet woman speaks. Her voice is almost the same as Marie’s, but with a higher, girlish lilt.

THE WOMAN/MARIE: (V.O/O.S.) Oh, no - _I_ called to _her_. As a proper monster, I needed some sorcery of my own. Only, the Firebird gave me a little more than I asked for. (she gestures at her jaw, flicking her side lock)

Marie steps back from the edge. She contemplates the sword, holding it up between herself and Elsa. We see the shadow that matches the profile of her present self.

MARIE (CONT’D): (hushed) But, maybe, I just didn’t know the question. Because then I thought - what if I could get it all right, for real this time? As Marie, I’d be the heroine - the hero, Prince Hans never was.

She says it like she almost believes it, but there’s an ache underneath.

MARIE (CONT’D): As if _this_ makes any difference.

Marie sheathes the sword.

MARIE (CONT’D): The truth is, I can’t escape myself. You see, Elsa? I’m the same fraud I’ve always been.

She spreads her arms wide in a helpless way - as if to take a bow. Elsa stares at her, frowning, but not in anger.

ELSA: (unsteady) No… No, you’re not. Ahtohallan showed us the truth. Ha - that _vile man -_ can’t be you.

Loose snowflakes begin to swirl around Elsa, at the edges of the pool of light around them.

MARIE: I wish I wasn’t him. (regret tinged with a biting frustration) But if I ever had a chance to be someone else, I lost it long ago. 

She turns away from the glacier wall, her back to the shadow of the sullen boy, who is faced away from her.

ELSA: Don’t say that! (desperate) You must have been cursed to forget your real memories - or, or your soul was trapped in him, and you were always meant to be Marie.

The snow picks up. 

MARIE: (half-laughing in torment) Elsa - _listen to yourself_. You’re in love with a fantasy, just like your sister was.

ELSA: And what are you in love with, Marie?

Elsa tries to take her hand, but Marie pulls away.

MARIE: But I’m not… (she can’t bring herself to finish the sentence)

ELSA: (impassioned) _But_ _you can’t be him!_ The girl we saw, all those memories I drew from the water, they _must_ have beenreal, somehow!

THE FIREBIRD: (O.S.) Water doesn’t have memory.

Elsa and Marie both turn with a start. A little behind Marie, the Firebird is perched on a dripping ice formation - like a flame on a candle - with a halo of steam, the snow flurrying thick around her.

ELSA: (bewildered scoff) Of course it does! Water passes through all life, and remembers everything.

Ghostly faces, some familiar, form and dissipate in the billowing flakes. We hear snippets of distant voices, echoes of echoes.

THE FIREBIRD: (tail flaring up) It does, and it doesn’t.

The Firebird flutters around the snowflakes, piqued. 

ELSA: (sharp) But Ahtohallan told me -

THE FIREBIRD: (cutting her off, high and clear) This place only tells you what you tell yourself.

ELSA: And it’s all true!

The Firebird launches straight at Elsa.

Elsa stumbles back, throwing up her arms, shielding herself with a pair of sculptures drawn out of the snow - her grandfather, raising his sword to attack the kneeling Northuldra leader. We hear the grandfather’s voice - but now with two different, whispering voices underneath…

GRANDFATHER/???: (V.O.) Magic is dangerous… For Arendelle…

ELSA: She showed me my ancestors - what my grandfather did to them!

The Firebird swerves wide around the statues, her golden light casting their long shadows across the wall. Elsa shrinks away from them, and Marie steps forward. They see the silhouette of Hans, raising his sword to strike the silhouette of Elsa, kneeling with grief in the middle of a shadowy blizzard.

MARIE: (hushed anguish) Don’t you see - this what _I_ did to _you._

ELSA: (to Marie) No! (eyes wide with confusion and terror at the shadows) _No! It can’t be!_

THE FIREBIRD: (flaring her wings above Elsa’s head) It can, and it was.

ELSA: Your shadows are lies! Ahothallan showed me my parents - the reason for my magic!

The Firebird bears down on her once more with harsh golden light.

Elsa staggers back, shooting a blast of ice at the Firebird that erupts into more statues - a girl holding a boy in a swirl of ice sculpted to look like wind.

But the Firebird is too quick, banking around the statues, over the pit. Elsa turns and flees from the encroaching light, shadows stretching past her onto the wall ahead - a pair of dolls, held together not by wind, but by a child’s hands.

YOUNG ANNA: (V.O. narrating her game with the dolls) But love will save Father from the enchanted forest! Mother cries out…

A bit behind the Firebird, Marie weaves around the statues of the boy and girl, chasing Elsa.

MARIE: (trying to make sense of it all) This is just a story…

ELSA: But _it’s_ _real!_ It must be! It’s why I’m here - the fifth spirit called me home!

THE FIREBIRD: You’re here because you want to be.

Out of the blizzard in Elsa’s wake rises the massive hull of a wrecked ship. The Firebird swoops above the mast with ease and over the wall, Marie dodges, barely, skirting the edge of the pit. Shadows of the sisters in a forest that seems to reach out toward Elsa’s feet.

ELSA: (near tears) My mother - she called to me!

THE FIREBIRD: (pitiless, the chirp more of a shriek) Your mother is dead.

Tall waves of ice swell out of the blizzard, Elsa’s mother and father embracing as they are taken under.

ELSA’S FATHER: (V.O) We keep going, for Elsa!

The Firebird banks high. Over Elsa falls a shadow of her younger self, hugging her knees, weeping alone.

Elsa slows, half-sobbing herself. The Firebird circles over her. 

Marie skids around the waves and finally catches up to Elsa.

MARIE: (to the Firebird, holding out her arms protectively) Stop! You’re hurting her!

The Firebird hovers a moment, silenced. She shoots Marie an annoyed look, and then puts on a burst of speed, soaring over Marie and Elsa. She corners Elsa between her own harsh light and Marie’s soft glow. Elsa’s breathing is ragged, she narrows her eyes against the light and backs away, into the cavern wall. 

ELSA: (at the eye of the storm churning around her) _Her memory lives here!_ I have her love! She told me to be who I am.

A massive sheet of snow solidifies in the air above Elsa, eclipsing the Firebird’s light, as the ghostly face of Elsa’s mother - smiling at her daughter with pride and acceptance. We hear her voice, like the siren song - show yourself, step into your power. But there’s another voice underneath - conceal, don’t feel, don’t let it show. On the wall behind Elsa, Marie sees the shadow of a child's hand being fitted with a glove…

MARIE: (contemptuous) No, she didn’t.

Elsa snaps around to look at Marie, her eyes wild. Marie stands on the edge of the pit, bracing herself against the blizzard, glowing gold in the darkness, a halo of steam around her.

MARIE (CONT’D): (cutting) Elsa, your parents were terrified of you.

Marie steps toward Elsa, bold. Elsa steps back, with nowhere to go, her hands pressed against the wall. The glacier distorts around her, cracking in a diamond tessellation. The shadows of snowflakes dapple Elsa’s face.

ELSA: (jerking her head) No! I know they - 

MARIE: They shut you away from everyone, closed the entire kingdom.

ELSA: To protect me! To protect everyone! It was just until I learned to control my magic! (terrible shame) I took too long. It was my fault.

MARIE: (fierce) You were a child and _they built you a dungeon,_ with iron cuffs made to seal away the power in your hands. I know it’s true because _I locked you up there._

We pull out and see the fractales criss-crossing up the wall behind Elsa, like the diamond barred windows of Arendelle castle.

ELSA: (desperate) They loved me!

MARIE: Of course they did. (merciless) If they didn’t love you, they wouldn’t have needed the dungeon _._

Elsa doubles over, the blizzard flowing back into her, power building with her anguish.

ELSA: No… _no!_

Elsa arches her back, letting loose a raw blast that shatters the glacier wall and blows Marie back from her.

ELSA (CONT’D): (wail) _I am not a monster!_

The blast transforms the shards of the wall and snow of the blizzard to the diamond-shaped elemental crystals. The wind stops and the crystals hang suspended in the dark, reflecting the Firebird’s light. Marie catches herself at the edge of the pit.

ELSA (CONT’D):(verging on manic) I am _everything_ they wanted. Iamthe fifth spirit. (to herself as much as to Marie) I was born to bring harmony to the elements, and to people, to the world! _I’m_ _saving Arendelle._

As she speaks, the crystals move, tracing shimmering outlines in the darkness - forest trees, nature spirits, the fjord and castle ramparts, the volcanic island covered in glaciers, Elsa’s world. The Firebird flutters around and settles on a large crystal forming part of the volcano slope.

THE FIREBIRD: (cocking her head, a little bemused) You are destroying Arendelle.

ELSA: (to the Firebird) _Liar!_

MARIE: (looking between Elsa and the Firebird, with intense confusion and dread) But - but how?

THE FIREBIRD: (simple, obvious) The volcano.

ELSA: You’re lying _._ I sealed it!

THE FIREBIRD: For now. Your enchantment might delay the natural course for years - a whole life-time, if you try.

MARIE: (understanding) But it will never be enough.

THE FIREBIRD: (bobs her head) Every moment the eruption is denied, pressure grows beneath the ice.

As the Firebird speaks, she flares her wings, burning hotter, growing in size from songbird to hawk. Above her, the outline of the mountain traced in ice crystals steams.

THE FIREBIRD: (with an inhuman certainty) And in time, when the volcano erupts as it must, the cataclysm will be far greater,

The Firebird launches straight up, high over Elsa and Marie, burning through the crystal outline of the glacier summit. The Firebird spreads her wings against the fathoms high cavern ceiling as a colossal demonic raptor.

THE FIREBIRD: - and it will be because of _you._

ELSA: _No!_

The Firebird swoops down, burning away the crystal landscapes, surrounding Marie and Elsa in a wheel of pure flame.

THE FIREBIRD: (voice resonates from everywhere at once) The earth will crack, the sea and sky will choke with ash, and the world you know will burn.

ELSA: (defiant, feverish) I’ll stop it! I’ll cast the island - the sea - in eternal winter.

MARIE: (turning to her) Elsa, not again! You have to stop this enchantment _now_ , before the eruption gets any worse. Before you doom everything.

ELSA: (The flames reflecting in her eyes) I’ll control it! I’ll save them all!

Marie takes Elsa by her shoulders, forcing her to look at her.

MARIE: You can’t keep it in forever! You’re trying to do the impossible, but you don’t have to. (earnest) You don’t have to be perfect for them!

ELSA: Yes, _I do!_ (vulnerable, shaking) _I can’t fail again!_

As the fire rages around them, they hold each other’s gaze, raw and desperate. Marie sees Elsa’s agony and feels it as her own. Elsa sees something shift in Marie’s eyes.

MARIE: (tender) You can. Because I’ll save them for you. 

The glow around Marie’s body strengthens, the down-like flames getting brighter and higher.

ELSA: Marie… 

Marie steps back from Elsa, drawing her sword. The Firebird follows the sweeping motion, flowing back into the blade as pure flame, leaving absolute darkness behind. For a moment the blade glows hot white, then Marie thrusts it at the cavern ceiling. A concentrated burst of fire shoots up, searing through the ice.

We look up from the depths of Ahtohallan - vast, but not endless. A brutal crack splits the ceiling, loose chunks of ice hailing down. Beyond lies a clear night sky, awake with the red and green rays of an aurora.

Elsa stares up at the crack, unable to breathe. Beside her, Marie looks up at her way out with bold resolve. The glow around her becomes a blaze, tongues of flame spread out from her shoulders, unfolding as a pair of wings. Marie takes a breath, the wings spread, and then she launches herself through the crack, into the sky.

ELSA: NO! _MARIE!_

**EXT. AHTOHALLAN - NIGHT**

Marie breaks the surface of the frozen river, her lungs filling with the night air. She flies high, with the crimson aurora above her and the jagged glacier below. The dark sliver of the northernmost coastline is visible in the south east, and Marie turns to the south west, to where Mt Mundspell lies beyond the Dark Sea.

ELSA (CONT’D): (O.S) _Stop! No!_

Elsa rises out of the depths of the glacier on a jagged spire of ice, hurling shards at Marie, trying to bring her down. The ice shards vaporize on impact with the wings, tearing holes of steam in the fiery feathers that seal over almost instantly.

Elsa balls her fists, the surface of the glacier around her begins to churn and flow. A half-thawed maelstrom whirls up and out at Marie.

The freezing vortex surrounds her. Her fiery wings beat, giving Marie a burst of speed, and she shoots out just as the vortex collapses and crashes back down to the glacier surface. Elsa braces herself on the spire as the wave falls over her. She watches Marie soar away, a spark of gold against the vivid sky.

ELSA (CONT’D):(wrenching wail) _Marie!_

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested listening:
> 
> https://youtu.be/N2-QxyhAsT8
> 
> https://youtu.be/MPZrRV0aWSQ


	11. Grand Gran

ACT THREE

SEQUENCE G

**GRAND GRAN**

CUT TO: **ANNA** , riding Sven, with a punch bowl full of Olaf on her knees, and pure determination in her eyes.

**EXT. THE BLACK MOUNTAINS - NIGHT**

They dash down a familiar path, between giant slabs of rock, dotted with vents exhaling steam from deep in the earth.

**EXT. THE VALLEY OF THE LIVING ROCK - NIGHT**

The cosy valley is silent and still when Anna rides in. Boulders of various sizes sit in repose. The red and green aurora dancing above casts the sporing moss tendrils and knobbly lichen in odd alien hues. 

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (murmuring at the aurora) _Sky-y_ , go back to sleep.

Anna dismounts Sven, sets Olaf down, and marches straight up to a large, weather beaten rock with shaggy moss growth.

ANNA: (loudly, to the rock) Grand Pabbie! We need your help!

The rock doesn’t answer.

ANNA (CONT’D): (trying to shove the rock over)Please, _wake up!_

Sven butts Anna with his nose, trying to get her attention.

ANNA (CONT’D): (aggravated) I don’t care if it’s rude, this is urgent -

We hear a rumbling, and see stones and boulders tumbling around behind her. Anna wheels around as the rocks of the valley unfold into trolls, blinking up at her. Anna glances back to the rock she had been yelling at - still unmoved.

ANNA (CONT’D): (awkward) Oh. Uh, hello, everyone.

The trolls all break into good-humored smiles.

BULDA: (the closest troll to her, adoring) It’s Kristoff’s girl!

They hop around Anna, besieging her with affection, hugging her shoulders, fussing with her hair.

TROLLS (VARIOUS): Anna’s here! Anna’s here!

KID TROLL: Auntie Anna!

MATRON TROLL: I made you a coat!

ANNA: (surprised and grateful, her eyes misty) Oh, I missed you all too, but -

Anna tries to back away, but a pair of troll-in-laws ambush her, throwing an elaborate cloak of moss and crystals over her shoulders.

MATRON TROLL: Just see that it fits, dear.

ANNA: Thank you - but this isn’t a visit! (anxious)

In the background, some adolescent trolls are playing with Olaf’s slush, adding fungi and lichen, trying to push him back into shape.

KID TROLL: (tugging her skirt) Auntie Anna, where’s Kristoff?

ANNA: (floundering) Oh, he… Well, we -

Her eyes are still a little red. Sven gives a sad moan.

BULDA: (gasps) Sweetheart, did you have a fight?

The trolls all fall back from her on hearing this, muttering to each other - all concerned, some sympathetic, and some a little reproachful.

We hear the ominous stirrings of a jaunty tune.

ANNA: (frustrated, discordant with the music) I can’t get into it right now. Elsa’s in danger! 

At the mention of Elsa, we hear a new rumbling. The crowd parts for a boulder that rolls straight up to Anna, onto the weather beaten rock, unfolding as Grand Pabbie.

GRAND PABBIE: (resigned) Anna, I’m surprised. I thought this family's troubles were over.

ANNA: So did I.

GRAND PABBIE: (tutting) Well, come here. Let’s see what could frighten you so.

He motions to her, and Anna bows her head. Grand Pabbie draws from her temple a sparkling blue energy that he places in the air a little above her. With a flick of his wrist, the energy divides into displays of color and light, windows into her mind. Anna looks up to see recent memories floating around the valley. A close up of Marie lighting the sword when she first arrived at the palace. Marie's face, smiling when Anna gave her the scabbard. Marie and Elsa dancing at the ball. Marie pulling Elsa away.

GRAND PABBIE: (staring at the memories in shock) Oh, my.

TROLLS (VARIOUS): (murmuring) It can’t be…

ANNA: What? Who is she?

GRAND PABBIE: (expanding the scene where Marie is showing off the blade) I know not how she has returned, but that _is_ the Firebird. A powerful fiend of chaos and destruction, bound to seek only the truth.

ANNA: (torn between righteous anger and abject confusion) Oh. The first part sounds about right, but seeking truth - that’s a good thing.

Grand Pabbie sighs, regarding her with benevolent pity.

GRAND PABBIE: Truth is indifferent to what loving beings call good and evil. Humans are delicate. You come and go from this world so quickly. Too much truth, all at once, is often more than you can bear.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (now with mushrooms for ears, stars reflecting in his eyes and the liquid punch) Nothing is anything. We’re all just a lot of teensy specks, drifting away. 

GRAND PABBIE: Indeed. The best defense human minds have for life’s pain is to persuade you that it isn’t there. You forget, you imagine anew, and you believe it was always meant to be. (fond) Beautiful dreams - I try to help, where I can.

Anna takes this in. Her brow furrows when Pabbie speaks of forgetting.

GRAND PABBIE (CONT’D): (grave) But the Firebird knows no mercy.

ANNA: (impatient) What will she do?

GRAND PABBIE: As a sword, she can’t do anything herself. Everything depends on the character of this new knight, how he chooses to wield the terrible power in his hands.

ANNA: You mean, how _she_ chooses.

Grand Pabbie blinks at her, befuddled.

ANNA (CONT’D): The knight is a woman. 

Grand Pabbie glances back at the memories of Marie. Some of the other trolls mutter in surprise. 

GRAND PABBIE: (bemused) Ah, forgive me. Human genders are a bit tricky for us.

The other trolls all murmur in assent.

TROLL COUSIN: Lately, I just go by if you got pants or no pants.

Grand Pabbie nods sagely.

ANNA: Oh, don’t worry, the pants are weird for us, too. And she is kind of… (narrowing her eyes at a memory of Marie smiling, considering)

Suddenly, Anna’s eyes fly open with terrible clarity. It clicks.

ANNA (CONT’D): She’s _him._

Anna reels back from the memories, and Grand Pabbie allows them to flow back into her mind.

ANNA (CONT’D): Oh, how did I not see it before? How could I let _him_ back into our lives?

GRAND PABBIE: (unnerved) Anna, who is the knight?

ANNA: (shaking with rage) He's a heartless, backstabbing, unredeemable traitor. (beat) He’s my ex.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: _Hans?!_

BULDA: (appalled) The other man!

TROLLS (VARIOUS): (chorusing with well-remembered enmity) The _fiancé!_

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: Wait! Wait, what? _What?_

The remains of the snowman uses his stick arms to prop up his head, the mushrooms falling off as he does so.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (imagination staggered) _Hans_ turned into _Marie?_ That’s a thing people can _do?_

GRAND PABBIE: (shrugging, a bit out of his depth) No mortal illusions are safe from the Firebird - not even gender.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (to himself, marveling) _I_ could be Samantha…

ANNA: (frantic) And he’s _got Elsa!_ Grand Pabbie, tell me what’s happening with them! Will Hans use the sword to kill her?

GRAND PABBIE: I’ll see what I can.

Grand Pabbie raises his arms and conducts visions against the sky. They see a blue figure of Elsa, wailing in anguish.

ANNA: (desperate relief) She’s still alive.

GRAND PABBIE: And suffering…

The trolls all sigh with sympathy.

The lights change, now red, showing Marie flying away with the sword in hand.

GRAND PABBIE (CONT’D): A decision is made…

The lights change to show the silhouette of Mt. Mundspell, white with ice. Marie flies to the top. A great explosion of golden light, in the shape of a demonic bird.

ANNA: (gasping) The volcano!

GRAND PABBIE: (considering deeply) Yes…

He allows the lights to dissipate.

GRAND PABBIE (CONT’D): Anna, it is up to you to save your sister from the Firebird’s cruelty.

ANNA: I’ll do it!

Anna scoops up Olaf’s bowl, and starts over to Sven.

ANNA (CONT’D): I’ll go back to Arendelle, and get a ship, and, and -

BULDA: Oh, Anna, of course we’re going to help!

ANNA: (pausing, her eyes shining) You are?

She looks around at them all, sees their smiles of affirmation.

GRAND PABBIE: (loving) Yes. We’re your family.

Grand Pabbie breathes deeply and closes his eyes. The other trolls follow suit. The multi-hued crystals on their necks glow brighter. Anna looks down and sees that the pink crystals on her moss cloak are glowing too, as is the little one on her wedding ring. The air hums, the crystals pulse in unison, as if they’re speaking to each other. Or, to someone else.

We feel a tremor that seems to come from everywhere at once. Anna clutches the punch bowl close. Sven kicks up his hooves, excited.

The towering slabs of black rock that line the valley begin to shift. Steam vents gasp. The matts of moss over the ground stretch and snap.

GRAND PABBIE: And we have a _big_ family.

Anna stares up in awe, a great shadow falls over her face from something beyond our view. Then, the valley itself rises up beneath Anna’s feet. The trolls roll away, off the edge of a giant hand lifting Anna, Punch Bowl Olaf, and Sven skyward.

**EXT. ARENDELLE VILLAGE - BEFORE DAWN**

The streets of Arendelle are in a state of panic. Windows and doors are being boarded up. People hurry to and fro bearing armfuls of blankets, firewood, and food, stocking up for the impending disaster. The night is almost over, and no one has slept.

The Northuldra guests from the ball are huddled together by the church. Royal guardsmen - the veterans of the Enchanted Forest - stand beside them, while other citizens give the Northuldra reproachful and wary looks.

Anxious Arendellains crowd on the bridge to the castle gates. They demand answers from the guardsmen barring their entrance: What will they do when the northerners arrive? Why did the fifth spirit turn on them at the ball? Why did Queen Anna leave? Where is King Kristoff? 

**INT. LIBRARY - BEFORE DAWN**

Kristoff is alone, pacing in circles, turning the crown over in his hands. He glances out the high triangular window overlooking the castle bridge, and turns away again. A portrait of the previous King of Arendelle looms on the wall behind him. He can hear the people shouting outside. His eyes are red.

The door opens. Kristoff tenses, hackles up. Kai enters.

KAI: Your Majesty, the courtyard is again habitable, the ballroom is prepared. We’re waiting on you to give the order.

KRISTOFF: Someone else can do it. Get Mattias.

KAI: The people need to hear it from their king.

KRISTOFF: Well, they shouldn’t -

KAI: But they do.(less formal, more urgent) Kristoff, _please._ They haven’t seen you in hours, not since you announced -

KRISTOFF: (caustic) _I know!_ I was there.

Distant tremors begin, shaking the castle walls. The cries of angry citizens become screams of terror. Kristoff drops the crown, and runs back to the window. He stares to the north, his hands pressed on the vibrating glass.

KRISTOFF: (pale) _No._ Ryder’s too late.

Then, he notices the crystal ring on his right hand emitting a soft green glow. It pulses, in time with the tremors. Kristoff’s eyes widen in recognition, and hope.

He runs past Kai, out the door.

**INT. CASTLE CORRIDORS - BEFORE DAWN**

Kristoff bolts down the hallway, up a spiral staircase. He stumbles a bit, as the tremors are getting stronger, closer.

KAI: (trotting after him with the crown) My King, you must get to the first floor -

KRISTOFF: This isn’t the volcano!

From the highest window in the castle, Kristoff looks to the south. A titanic figure, more than three times taller than the tallest trees, is lumbering down the black mountains.

CUT TO: **THE EARTH GIANT.** It reaches the edge of the harbor, across from Arendelle castle.

**EXT. ARENDELLE HARBOR - BEFORE DAWN**

The earth giant steps into the harbor, sinking in up to the knees. The sea water soaks the coils of moss and roots growing out of the giant’s stout legs and massive forearms like bristling hairs. Studded across the giant’s barrel chest are crystals that gleam yellow in the early twilight, like lighthouse windows.

Taking care to step around a few delicate double-masted ships, the giant wades through the harbor to Arendelle Castle. Each foot fall sends waves to buffet the ships in port. Dock workers run for cover.

**EXT. CASTLE BRIDGE - BEFORE DAWN**

The citizens and guardsmen on the castle bridge scatter, with frightened cries about cannibal trolls, as the behemoth heads straight for the castle gates.

The gates open from the inside. Kristoff runs out onto the bridge, to meet the earth giant. He looks up with amazement into the giant’s face, rough slabs of dark granite that resemble the haggard countenance of an old crone, stooped low with age.

KRISTOFF: (familial reverence) Grand Gran.

Grand Gran stops before the edge of the bridge and looks down her enormous, wizened nose at Kristoff. The grooves of granite on her cheeks crinkle and she regards him with a severe benevolence. Atop her broad hunchback, in a shallow nook of the stone and moss, stands Anna, Sven at her side and Olaf’s bowl in her arms. Anna’s face is lit by the gleaming pink crystals on her troll-made cloak, flushed and exhilarated.

SVEN: (to Kristoff) *happy bellow*

Grand Gran raises a lichen-spotted hand to her shoulder for Sven and Anna to climb onto. She lowers them down to Kristoff. Even before the hand comes to rest on the bridge, Sven bounds down the stone fingers and up to him.

KRISTOFF: (tearful) Sven!

While they reunite, Anna stays on the giant’s hand with punchbowl Olaf. Kristoff wipes the reindeer kisses off his face and looks up at her, holding out a hand for forgiveness.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (near pleading) Anna, I’m so sorry, I was idiot -

ANNA: (equally repentant) It’s ok - Kristoff, you were right! Arendelle is in danger!

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (sitting up a bit straighter in the punch bowl) And so is Elsa! Marie is working _with_ the volcano!

KRISTOFF: _What?_

ANNA: (almost a snarl on the name) Marie is _Hans._ He’s back for revenge. He’s going to use his new fire powers to kill Elsa and erupt Mt Mundspell.

Her words hit Kristoff like vertigo. Sven steadies him, putting his nose on Kristoff’s shoulder.

KRISTOFF: That… makes no sense.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (empathizing) I _know!_ It’s so crazy and evil.

KRISTOFF: But, if she wanted to, she could have done that already. Marie risked her life to help Elsa, and fix the volcano.

ANNA: Of course she did! (vehement disgust) _That’s_ _what Hans_ _does_ \- he had to make her love him first.

Kristoff’s expression hardens.

KRISTOFF: Anna, I believe you. We’ll bring Elsa home. Hans won’t get away with this.

He climbs onto Grand Gran’s hand, to join her.

ANNA: Oh, _I’ll_ _make sure of it._

Above them, Grand Gran fumes steam from her nostrils.

ANNA (CONT’D): But if I… (hesitating) If the volcano erupts, I still need you here, to get Arendelle ready. Just in case.

KRISTOFF: (desperate, taking her hand) Anna, I _tried_ \- I’m not a king on my own. I can’t do this without you.

ANNA: I don’t want you to, but I know you _can._

Anna hugs him tight, burying her face in his chest.

ANNA (CONT’D): Just, give them all that amazing strength you give to me.

Kristoff pushes her back, to meet her eyes. In that moment, he knows her bravery as his own. Kristoff takes a shaky breath and nods.

KRISTOFF: (devoted) I will.

They kiss, breif but tender.

Kristoff then tries to take the punch bowl off Anna’s hands, but the stick arms grab her moss coat.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: Anna, I want to go with you.

ANNA: (surprised by his lucidity) Olaf?

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (shrugging) Maybe! (more serious) But, if I’m not that guy, can I still be your friend?

Anna blinks, stunned that he needs to ask.

ANNA: Of course. (hugs the punch bowl close) Of course, I’m gonna hold onto you, whoever you are.

Kristoff steps back onto the bridge, with Sven.

ANNA (CONT’D): (grim determination) Ok, we’re ready.

She glances up at Grand Gran as she says it. The pink crystals around Anna’s neck pulse slightly and Grand Gran’s stone brow crinkles in response. Grand Gran lifts Anna above the castle bridge, where the crowd of townsfolk, guardsmen, and Northuldra guests have been watching Arendelle’s monarchs with bated breath, waiting for answers. The people stare agog, as the mammoth slabs of stone begin to move again. The earth giant backs away from the castle bridge and wades through Arendelle harbor, this time heading to the fjord, to the north.

Sven gives Kristoff a nudge from behind. Kristoff turns and sees Kai outside the castle gates, bearing the crown.

KAI: You dropped this, Your Majesty.

Kristoff takes the crown, puts it on, and pats Sven.

KRISTOFF: No running - right, buddy?

Sven snorts in assent. Kristoff then jumps onto the barrier of the bridge, elevating himself a little above the crowd.

KRISTOFF: (as loud as he can) Everyone, listen up! My name is Kristoff and I am your king!

The anxious eyes all fall on him.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (awkward and nervous) A-as you know. And here's some other things you know. Mt Mundspell is close to erupting, and the people of the north are coming south for safety. We have a few hours at most before they start to arrive.

The crowd murmurs, apprehensive.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): They’ll all need shelter during an eruption, and - (deep breath) - and as your king, I _order_ that every door in Arendelle be open to them.

Gasps from the crowd - both amazed and dismayed.

CITIZEN 6: _Every_ door?

CITIZEN 7: What about _our_ families -

BJORN THE BAKER: We don’t owe them -

CITIZEN 2: (angry) That’s not fair -

KRISTOFF: (blunt force) _Volcanoes aren’t fair._ This is what needs to happen, so this is what we are doing, _so people don’t die_.

MATTIAS: (proud) Hear, hear!

Following Mattias, the guardsmen beat their shields in solidarity. The crowd quiets a bit.

KRISTOFF: (plowing ahead, meeting the eyes of the citizens who objected) Not all of you have room to spare - and that’s alright. Those with larger homes, who can take more, will make up the difference.

\- As Kristoff speaks, we cut forward in time. We see the people of Arendelle folding sheets in guest rooms, putting out extra mattresses, humble couches in some cases. Guardsmen check the wealthier houses - making sure everyone who can is doing their share. The sun begins to rise.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (V.O.) The castle will take the most, starting with our Northuldra guests who are already here.

\- The Northuldra guests are ushered by General Mattias into the ballroom of the castle, which has been converted into an indoor campsite filled with simple sleeping cots and blankets. Breakfast porridge and hot glogg are served in the main hall.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (V.O) I get it - this is going to be hard. I don’t know what the world is going to look like after today, and that terrifies me _so much._

\- In a humble market village, a little girl with a braid peeks out of her window. She stares wide-eyed at the titanic wall of stone that is Grand Gran passing by on the fjord. Each foot fall hits the waters like the beat of a war drum. Dawn breaks with clear skies.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (V.O.) The Northuldra are just as scared as we are, and they’re just as much a part of this family.

\- A little bit past the outer villages, Northuldra are reaching the edge of the northern forests, their reindeer laden with deconstructed tents. Yelana leads them, her expression grim, and beside her are Ryder and Honeymaren, hopeful and worried.

From where they are on the high bluffs, Ryder and Honeymaren see Grand Gran wading up the fjord. Yelana urges them to keep moving south. Atop Grand Gran’s hunchback, the half-melted remains of a snowman use one arm to wave the other at the traveling Northuldra - Ryder waves back.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): (V.O) And in Arendelle, we do what’s right for our family. Whatever it takes.

\- Ahead, past the mouth of the fjord, Anna sees the river where the dam used to be.

Without slowing her march, Gran Gran’s broad hunchback rises beneath Anna’s feet. Anna drops to a crouch to hold on. Grand Gran is taking a breath. Her jaw cracks open, and she lets out a low roar.

New tremors start. Anna sees the rugged land of the enchanted forest start to rise, hills of stone towering above the woods. The northern earth giants are waking up. They rub their heads, wipe moldy crusts of sleep out of their eyes, and see Grand Gran, beckoning them with a gnarled hand. They let loose a thundering chorus that shakes the trees. The northern giants follow Grand Gran to the sea, grabbing boulders as they go.

Punch Bowl Olaf mimics the roars, excited. Anna grins with righteous fury, wind whistling past her ears. She turns her gaze away from the forest, to the sea beyond the fjord. We see the ice-capped volcanic island in the middle of the sea, glistening with the colors of the dawn, and a distant spark, like a little candle flame, streaking towards it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://youtu.be/fzFcfPjrLo0
> 
> https://youtu.be/UYcbG5vvOJg


	12. Battle the Elements

ACT THREE

SEQUENCE H1

**BATTLE THE ELEMENTS**

CUT TO: **MARIE,** carried by wings of fire, the wind at her back.

**EXT. MT. MUNDSPELL - DAWN**

She flies over the northern tip of the volcanic island - a long spit of craggy basalt and thin moss leading up to the slope. The conical mountain looms ahead, swathed in ice and snow, lying in wait.

Behind Marie, a rogue wave from the dark sea washes over the island coast, The cold waters rush toward the mountain slope, swelling much higher than should be possible under the wave’s own power.

Marie glances down at the wave with a mix of awe and worry, and puts on a burst of speed. She nears the base of the volcano, a thin sliver of basalt between the sea and the snowline. Her burning wings beat, pitching her up toward the distant summit.

The torrent of water rises before her, rolling up on the snow-coated mountainside faster than Marie can fly.

At the crest of the wave rising up the mountain, is Elsa, riding the nokk, commanding the waters with her arms outstretched. The nokk leaps onto the dense snows as the wave breaks against the mountainside. Tons of water slam into the slope below Elsa, curving back, into a vast wave about to crash down on Marie.

Then, just before the waters fall, Elsa throws up her arms and freezes the wave to a wall of solid ice hanging over Marie’s head. Holding back.

Marie takes a breath, beats her wings, and launches herself at the barrier. She spins midair, enveloping herself in a whirlwind of fire. The golden flames burn through the ice in an explosion of steam. Ice wall cracks apart, collapsing to the sea below in half-melted chunks.

Marie rises out of the steam cloud, unfettered. Her wings reform as the fiery whirlwind dissipates. She pauses, hovering mid air, to catch her breath. A little above her, on a shallow ledge of ice jutting out from the slope, Elsa glowers down at her - head held high, hair whipping in the wind, ultramarine gown appearing near black against the sunlit snow.

ELSA: (imperious, ringing down the mountainside) Marie! You will go no further! As long as I stand, Mundspell will sleep. 

Elsa raises her hands, magic at her fingertips.

MARIE: (short of breath) So, _go on._ Give me everything you’ve got _._ (spreads her arms, welcoming) With all your power, even you can’t fight what’s true. 

With a beat of her wings, Marie soars up the slope. Elsa claws her fists and sends jagged, undulating, ridges of ice bursting out of the mountainside to block Marie’s flight. Marie swoops around one ridge, using the momentum to slice through another with the sword. A wicked ice spire catches the side of her boot, slicing through to her flesh. Marie gasps in pain, but doesn’t slow.

Through sheer force, she overtakes Elsa on the slope.

Elsa sees blood droplets on the snow. She urges the nokk forward to keep pace on the slope under Marie.

ELSA: (calling out) And what about you?

She conjures more ice spires in Marie’s path, coiling like thick briars. 

ELSA (CONT’D): You think this will make you a heroine, or a hero? You’ll destroy yourself trying! (plaintive, still furious)

Marie doesn’t respond. She flies higher, above the volcano slope, out of spire's range if not Elsa’s voice. Elsa leans back on the nokk, brings her hands together and shoots a stream of ice magic into the air.

The ice misses Marie - streaking over her shoulder. But the beam bursts as it passes - showering her wings with heavy raindrops that punch holes in the flaming feathers as quickly as they heal.

Losing altitude fast, Marie twists around, sending desperate blasts of fire to vaporize the raindrops.

ELSA (CONT’D): (goading, but earnest) Or maybe that’s what you’re really after. You want to die as the monster you feel you are.

MARIE: (ragged yelling) _Just let me do this for you!_

The last of the rain dissipates to steam. Marie’s wings recover in time to pull her out of the dive before she hits the slope. Marie raises the blazing sword high as she sweeps up toward Elsa. Elsa hands already spark with magic, and the nokk rears back under her, anticipating.

Marie swings the sword and sends a massive blast of golden flame square at Elsa, who counters with a blast of her own raw power. Fire meets ice.

Steam engulfs the slope, fogging over the soft light of the dawn and the fervid glow of Marie.

After a few moments of stalemate, the flames falter. Elsa lowers her arms, letting her magic dissipate. With a sweeping motion, she clears the water vapor from her view. But Marie isn’t there.

Elsa’s eyes widen in panic. She looks to the summit, cloaked in steam. She urges the nokk up the slope, sweeping away steam clouds as they go, scanning the empty skies.

They hear a distant explosion. A low tremor shudders through the slope from deep within the volcano. Desperate, Elsa urges the nokk to go faster - but he pauses, snorting in confusion.

Then, Elsa spies a trail of smoke, rising not from the summit, but the other side of the mountain.

CUT TO: **LAVA,** oozing from a black gash in the snow.

**EXT. SOUTHERN SLOPE OF MT MUNDSPELL - DAWN**

Marie circles above the slope, jabbing the sword down to blast away at the ice-encrusted ridge and expose the fissure vent beneath.

When the vent is about halfway uncovered, the ridge shudders and cracks, and three red hot salamanders burst out. They sputter lava over the snow, boiling mad as ever, but also a bit bemused. They blink unevenly at the sunlight, and Marie hovering over them.

MARIE: (half-smiling) Good morning.

The salamanders hiss up at her, with a kind of exasperated appreciation. Finally, somebody gets it.

The tremoring is stronger, the rumbling louder. More salamanders burst from the vent.

Elsa and the nokk gallop into view from the northern side of the slope. 

MARIE: (calling as Elsa nears, frayed but triumphant) The spirits are waking, Elsa! There’s no stopping it now!

The nokk skids to a halt not far above the fissure vent. Elsa stares, astonished, not at Marie or the gathering salamanders, but at something beyond them.

A thunderous chorus shakes the mountainside. Marie twists around midair, and sees…

REVEAL: **THE EARTH GIANTS,** marching against Mt. Mundspell.

Half a dozen of them ford the sea as a living archipelago. The tops of their stone heads and shoulders tower above the waves, spearheaded by Grand Gran.

Grand Gran rises up out of the water as she reaches the base of the island, wet crystals gleaming on her chest, seaweed matts clinging to the shaggy moss on her arms. Her stone feet fall on the volcano’s shore, making prints in the solid basalt like it’s mud.

Grand Gran draws in a breath, puffing up her chest.

We cut in close on the giant’s hunchback, where Anna glares up at Marie with a vengeance. The pink crystals on her cloak glow, resonating with the Grand Gran’s yellow ones. Grand Gran’s heavy jaw cracks open and we hear Anna’s voice amplified as a roar that shakes the mountainside. 

ANNA: **HANS!**

Grand Gran pounds her fist into the ground for emphasis. The other giants reach the shore too, emerging to their full heights beside her. The tops of their heads come up to her shoulder.

Rocking to the rhythm of the giant’s footsteps, the slush pile in the punch bowl gives the Queen a questioning look.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: Mmm, Anna? Doesn’t she prefer “Marie” now?

Anna glances at him, considering a beat.

ANNA: (normal voice) Good catch.

ANNA (CONT’D): (roaring through Grand Gran again, with relish) ** _MARIE!_ I AM GOING TO PUNCH YOU _WITH THESE MOUNTAINS._**

****

The giants all chorus in assent. The island quakes. Grand Gran lunges forward and the rest follow. Like an avalanche in reverse, they charge up the slope.

CUT TO: **MARIE,** the blood drained from her face.

MARIE: (terror) Oh… boy.

Below her, the fissure vent shudders violently. The crack widens and deepens, and the great salamander bursts out in an explosion of lava. The massive spirit lets out a territorial hiss at the giants, puffing out the molten neck frills.

Mid-step, one of the smaller giants heaves back his arm and lobs a boulder the size of an elephant into the air. The boulder sails past Marie in a clean arc. The great salamander’s eyes bug with fear and the creature hastily scrambles out of the way. The boulder slams into the ground where it was standing, smashing through the spirit’s igneous tail.

The other giants start chucking their boulders too. Salamanders slither, desperate to find cover from the barrage. Marie sends a fire blast at one incoming boulder, which only succeeds in heating the dense rock before it craters into the slope with a spray of steam and snow.

Marie manages to flutter aside, just as another another rock barrels toward her. It just misses her, but rips through her right wing. The force blows out the fiery feathers and Marie crashlands into a snowbank.

Marie struggles to push herself up. Her wounded leg shakes, her right wing flickers.

Grand Gran digs her hand into the mountainside and breaks off a thick ice-encrusted chip of basalt. She slings it at Marie like a skipping stone.

ANNA: **I BLESS THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN THIS ROCK AND YOUR FACE!**

The massive slab hurtles towards her.

Then, a twisting spire of ice shoots out of the slope, splitting the rock mid-air. The halves of basalt crash down on either side of Marie.

Elsa and nokk dash down the slope, past Marie, into the path of the oncoming giants.

The nokk nimbly weaves around two falling boulders, Elsa skewers another.

When she’s within a hundred feet of Grand Gran, Elsa takes a deep breath and pulls her arms up to her chest. A shock wave of magic flows out from her, rippling down the mountainside. The earth giants sink - the thick glacial ice beneath their feet melting to slush. They slip down the slope. The smaller ones lose their grip on the crags entirely and tumble back into the sea, bellowing as they go. Anna bellows too.

ANNA: **ELSA!**

Anna grips the moss on Grand Gran’s back tight as she struggles to keep her footing.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: I never like this part. She wants us to go away…

ANNA: (through gritted teeth) We’re not going anywhere.

Grand Gran drives a hand into the mountainside, stabilizing herself in the crags beneath the slush.

Elsa sweeps out her arms, refreezing the slush to encase Grand Gran’s feet and hand in thick ice crystals.

UP THE SLOPE: **MARIE,** crumpled in the snow, shaking like a stunned rabbit, watching Elsa defend her life.

Then, Marie’s brow sets. She clenches her jaw, stretches her wings, and launches herself into the air, toward the summit.

DOWN THE SLOPE: **GRAND GRAN,** using her free hand to scrape at the jagged ice crystals trapping her.

Elsa and the nokk charge over the ice, heading straight for Grand Gran. Even bowed over, the giant is dizzying to behold. Her weathered brow wrinkles with a chastising expression. 

ANNA: **Get out of our way**!

Grand Gran manages to break her trapped arm free and sweeps it low across the ice before her, to brush Elsa aside.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: Careful!

Elsa flattens herself on the nokk’s back, murmurs encouragingly in his ear. The nokk snorts, gathers speed, and leaps at the slow-moving wall of stone that is the back of Grand Gran’s hand. As he hits the granite thumb, the nokk changes back to water and splashes to the frozen river below, leaving Elsa clinging to thick moss tendrils.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (annoyed) Oh, right - she’s awesome.

Elsa pulls herself up the side of the giant’s palm. Grand Gran raises her hand, trying to shake Elsa off. Elsa plants her feet and freezes the bottom of her gown in place on the stone.

ELSA: (yelling, voice cracking from the effort) Anna - Call off the earth spirits! They’ll kill her!

Grand Gran lifts Elsa up, closer to Anna and Olaf.

ANNA: _Good!_ Elsa, Marie’s not who she says, she’s really _Ha_ -

ELSA: (cutting her off, aggravated) I know who she is, she told me everything. This is between us - you need to stay out of it!

ANNA:(roaring) **_US?_** (apoplectic) WHAT _US?_ _She took you away from me!_

Anna glowers at Elsa, breathing fast and deep. Elsa stares at her sister, bewildered.

ELSA: You’re angry because of the _ball?_ Anna, the ball was _my_ mistake. I lost control -

ANNA: Because of _her!_

ELSA: - I _had_ to leave, to… (faltering, uncertainty creeping in) to keep you safe…

Giants roar.

ANNA: (voice thick with fury) _See!_ That’s just what she told you.

ELSA: (more to herself that to Anna) That’s what _they_ told me…

Anna climbs over Grand Gran’s shoulder, onto the stone hand where Elsa is standing.

ANNA: Who are you talking about? Everyone trusts you! _Everything was fine,_ until _Marie_ -

ELSA: Oh, _Anna_ , nothing’s been _fine!_ It wasn’t fine in the storm, when I wasn’t there for you. It wasn’t fine last fall, when I pushed you away, _again_ , when _I went too far._

Anna shrinks back from Elsa, her expression crumpling. She sets the punch bowl down. 

ANNA: I was wrong… (broken) to want to hold you back. I didn’t trust you enough. Is… Is that what I’m doing now? (plaintive, demanding)

ELSA: (horrified) _No!_

Elsa closes the gap between them, grabbing Anna’s hands.

ELSA: You’re right to be angry. I broke your trust. (mounting anguish) But not for Marie - this is the same as every other time, it’s always been for… (can’t choke it out)

ANNA: Don’t you _dare_ blame yourself!

ELSA: (wrenching) For Mother and Father.

CUT TO: **THE SUMMIT**

**EXT. MUNDSPELL SUMMIT - MORNING**

The enchanted glacier buries the crater, emblazoned with a four-pointed snowflake sigil fanning over the ice. Pure white, majestic, and silent, but for the whoosh of fiery wings.

ELSA (CONT’D): (O.S.) After all these years, Anna, I still hear their voices. They’re right beside me, (aching) saying it’s for the best.

Marie swoops low, over the point on the snowflake where all the fractals stem.

ELSA (CONT’D): (O.S.) Saying I have to shut you out. Someday, I can be your sister again, if only I’m good enough first.

Marie raises the Firebird sword high with both hands. The golden flames around the blade flow back into the metal, the runes glow white hot.

ELSA (CONT’D): (O.S.) What my magic needed was always there, waiting outside my door, but they never - (stops herself)

Marie hesitates, holding her breath.

SLOPE **:** **ELSA,** bringing her hands up to Anna’s face, like she did when Anna froze for her.

ELSA (CONT’D): _I’ll never learn_ , while I’m still letting their fears keep me from you.

ANNA: (trembling) Elsa, no… No, they loved us…

ELSA: I know.

She throws her arms around Anna.

ELSA (CONT’D): (whisper) And they tore us apart.

SUMMIT **:** **MARIE** brings her whole weight down with the sword, plunging the blade into the heart of the glacier. 

A red hot glow spreads under the ice. Beneath the translucent surface, we see golden flames like wings, rushing out from the point the sword struck.

The summit explodes with fire, splitting the glacier with a blaze that pales the dawn.

SLOPE: **ELSA** lets out a silent howl. Anna struggles against her sister’s embrace, but Elsa holds her tight.

ANNA: Elsa, come on! We can still stop it!

The melting glacier releases a torrent of water, flooding down the mountainside. Violent shudders wrack the slope.

ELSA: (through tears) Anna, it’s ok. I’m here.

Elsa raises an arm as the flood waters break over Grand Gran’s torso. The water flows around the sisters and the punch bowl, forming a protective bubble, held in place by the pillars of stone that are Grand Gran’s fingers.

Elsa brings her arm around Anna’s shoulders.

ELSA: You have me. 

Anna begins to brokenly, openly weep.

The volcano erupts. In an instant, the shattered remains of Mundspell’s ice cap are gone. A cloud of ash and tephra - pyroclastic viscera - shoots up from the gaping crater, in a plume rising higher again than the mountain is tall.

Burning chunks of tephra rain down on the mountain slope. Elsa’s water shield steams, but does not break. Grand Gran draws her hand that’s holding them to her chest.

The billowing smoke continues to rise, and rise. Gray clouds fill the blue skies, blotting out the sun.

We move out with the shadow of ash, as it falls over the shallow sea, where the rest of the giants form a line before the mainland. They grab rocks from the seafloor, getting ready.

We go over the northern forests, where ash falls on abandoned tents and cold fire pits…

Down through lands of the south, where the ash falls on the soft green fields full of new crops, and on the shelters where sheep hunker with their young…

Ash falls on the fjord coastline and the ships in port, rocking with the wind blowing from the north… Ash falls on the boarded up homes of Arendelle.

We see living rooms and kitchens, Arendellian and Northuldra families huddling close around candles.

**INT. ARENDELLE CASTLE - MORNING**

Northuldra and their reindeer fill the castle halls, loosely clustered in families. Everyone copes in their own ways. Wide-eyed children listen to Honeymaren’s stories. Yelana shares a glass of glogg with Mattias and Halima.

Kristoff moves from group to group, checking in and passing out bowls, followed by castle servants bearing tureens of hot porridge. A reindeer nose nudges him from behind - it’s Sonja. She gives him a pointed look. Kristoff sees Ryder, alone, at the high windows.

Ryder stares out the diamond barred glass at the darkening skies. We hear muffled rumbling in the distance.

Kristoff hands off the remaining bowls to Kai, and goes to stand beside his friend. He puts a hand on Ryder’s arm, and a glance of wordless dread passes between them. Ryder leans on Kristoff’s shoulder, and Sven sits down with Sonja.

They watch the ash fall.

CUT TO: **FIREBOMBS,** streaking red across the black sky, hurtling toward the dark outline of the mainland forests.

**EXT. NORTHERN COAST - MIDDAY**

A burst of molten lava - a boulder collides with the firebomb midair. The firebomb cracks apart in the form of a salamander as it falls into the sea.

In the churning waters along the rocky coast, the earth giants guard their forest from the volcano’s barrage. We see their silhouettes in the red hot light of lava bursts. 

CUT TO: **FIREBOMB,** breaking against a giant’s hand.

**EXT. VOLCANO SLOPE - MIDDAY**

Grand Gran shields Elsa’s bubble. Pyroclastic slurry, lahar, rushes down the slope around the giant, battering her with half-melted ice and basalt. But the giant withstands it all, like a part of the mountain that has always been there. 

**INT. VALLEY OF THE LIVING ROCK - MIDDAY**

Inside the bubble, on the mossy stone, Elsa cradles Anna. She strokes her nose, like their mother did. Their cheeks are both streaked with tears, but the sisters are no longer crying. Anna’s eyes are closed, though her breathing hasn’t calmed enough for sleep. Elsa’s eyes are open, staring up into the darkness above them. Ash coats the exterior of the bubble, but the membrane is still translucent enough to see lava bursts, flashes of lightning, and the wide shadow of Grand Gran.

Beside Elsa, A slush puddle stares up, too.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: I’m sorry you couldn’t fix the volcano, Elsa. I know that meant a lot to you.

Elsa sighs. She’s very tired.

ELSA: It’s ok. The volcano didn’t need me to fix it.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (blowing bubbles in the punch) It doesn’t look ok. Seems like kind of a big mess out there.

HIGHER UP THE SLOPE **:** **FIRE SPIRITS** belch lava on the remaining ice with gleeful abandon. The salamanders roll and squirm in the resulting lahar, playing with the steam. Several great salamanders hiss and shake their molten frills at each other in a territorial game.

ELSA: (O.S.) Yes, but keeping the fire spirits in only made them angrier, and the mess bigger. Erupting is their nature.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (O.S.) Oh… But then, why -?

ELSA: (O.S.) I couldn’t stop myself. Bringing peace to Mundspell just… (frustrated) felt _right_ for what the fifth spirit is meant to do. 

IN THE BUBBLE: **ELSA** and **OLAF** are both quiet for beat, listening to the patter on the bubble - heavier than rain. 

ELSA: Maybe I’m not meant for anything, after all.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (perking up) Well, that’s a relief.

Elsa glances at him, surprised.

ELSA: What do you mean?

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: ‘Cause, when you exist for no reason, you get to do whatever you want - (chuckles to himself) nothing matters.

ELSA: Of course it matters! Why - right now, I have to protect Anna, and you - (just now fully registering the ex-snowman she’s speaking to) I should fix _you._

She starts to raise her hand, the punch bowl rocks back from her. 

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (firm) I’m not broken. Maybe this is a phase, but it’s where I’m at right now.

ELSA: You’re happy like this?

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (splishes the punch, shrugging) Mmm-mmn. The pink is fun!

ELSA: It’s a little flamboyant.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: (flattered) Aw, _you’re_ flamboyant.

They share a smile.

ANNA: (numb) Marie did the right thing.

ELSA: (amending, quiet) Right for _us._

Lightning flashes, thunder claps. Anna flinches and Elsa tenses.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: She’ll be ok, then, won’t she? (worried) She’s got Lil Glowy.

ELSA: I don’t know.

We’re inside, looking out at the storm of ash and fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsSx6nXpBMg&ab_channel=PatBenatar-Topic
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ub0Wm8UMko&ab_channel=EdSheeran-Topic
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1TSiB9OuVM&ab_channel=FlorenceMachineVEVO


	13. After the Ashfall

ACT THREE

SEQUENCE H2

**AFTER THE ASHFALL**

FADE IN: **MOLTEN LAVA,** filling our vision with red plumes, gold bursts, and white sparks.

We see a shape, like a black stone lodged in the burning river. Blurred, at first, but the shape sharpens as a silhouette. It’s Marie, kneeling with the sword, held in the pose from when she split the glacier.

Marie’s figure begins to change. Distorting in the currents like a cloud. Ripping apart.

Close up, her shadow splinters into a host of shades. A forest of men and women with hair long and short, shoulders wide and less so, faces merciless and loving, demure and determined, charming and nasty.

One by one, the disparate shadows scorch away, disintegrating to ashes.

Soon, there’s only one left. The shadow of a child, with a sullen face, alone in the fire. As the edges of young Hans’ form begin to fray, he draws himself inward.

Then, another shadow hand takes his own.

Hans looks up in fearful surprise, and sees the tall shadow of Marie standing over him. Her edges are crumbling, and she’s as afraid as he is.

Marie pulls Hans into a hug.

He embraces her back, so tight, that we can’t see where one silhouette ends and the other begins.

We hear a soft bird song - a refrain, ahh-ahh-ahh.

\- The lava burns gold, then white. Feathery light flows into the darkness like wings.

CUT TO: **A BLAST OF FIRE** , shooting out of the volcano crater, up into the smoke-filled sky.

**EXT. MT MUNDSPELL - LATE AFTERNOON**

The ashfall has lessened to a drizzle, the eruption died down, leaving the summit cloaked in a thick haze. The streak of flame cuts through the clouds.

The Firebird’s ahh-ahh-ahh refrain grows in volume.

\- On the blackened slope, lava salamanders turn toward the flame, their bulging eyes blinking unevenly.

\- In the sea coated in a film of ash, the earth giants peer up at the distant glow.

\- On the lower slope, through a thick layer of tephra and mud, Grand Gran squints with apprehension. She holds the water bubble close to her chest. The bubble breaks open, dissipating to vapor with a wave of Elsa’s hands, uncovering the giant’s palm where she, Anna, and Punch Bowl Olaf stare up at the sky.

The song crescendos in a triumphant cry.

\- High over the mountain, burning wings unfurl from the inferno sweeping away the toxic clouds around them.

A figure takes shape in the center of the flames, arms tucked in around the chest, over the heart, where the fire burns white hot.

As the blaze cools to gold, the figure’s arms unfold out to the sides, a sword in the right hand. We see Marie’s face, alive with immeasurable pain and joy. Her body is covered with red lava cooling to black igneous armor - save for her hands, which are bare.

Marie blinks away tears, and sees the world before her, transformed by the eruption. The day turned to dusk, the distant ash covered forests of the mainland, the free fire spirits on the mountain below, the black basalt crags and muddy rivers of lahar where the glaciers had been. The scale of it all astounds her with a sublime terror.

Her expression sobers when she sees a chip of mossy green and blue on the desolate slope. She beats her wings, and swoops down the mountainside, toward Grand Gran.

CUT TO: **ELSA,** overcome with a kind of pride as she watches Marie’s approach from the gray skies.

Anna stares up too, her expression grim. She looks to Elsa, and sighs.

ANNA: (quiet, putting a hand to her crystals) Take us to meet her.

Grand Gran snorts steam with cantankerous skepticism as her yellow crystals glow dimly beneath the ash. She raises her hand up to the sky nonetheless.

ELSA: (surprised) Anna…

Anna responds with a weary glance. She hangs onto the punch bowl.

Grand Gran holds them out with an open hand, a little above her head. Anna stays back by the thumb ridge, while Elsa goes to the edge of the palm. Marie alights on the giant’s gnarled forefinger, as her burning wings dissipate to feathery wisps. She stares at Elsa with a mixture of gratitude and remorse.

MARIE: (taking a step toward her) Elsa, I -

Marie stumbles as her wounded leg gives out. Elsa catches her in an embrace. The igneous armor steams at her touch, but Elsa doesn’t care.

ELSA: (tender) There’s nothing you have to say.

Anna tactfully averts her gaze.

Marie presses her lips to the side of Elsa’s cheek for a moment, then pulls back to meet her eyes.

MARIE: (earnest) Oh, there is. But you’re not the one who needs to hear it. _Anna,_

Anna looks up with a start. Marie gingerly steps away from Elsa and limps down to the giant’s palm to stand before her.

MARIE (CONT’D): Anna, I know I hurt you deeply.

Anna’s expression is stony, almost affronted, but she doesn’t say anything.

MARIE (CONT’D): I could never have been the hero you wanted, but the way I betrayed you was monstrous. (measured, knowing the weight of her words) I broke your heart and left you to die, and for that, I am truly sorry.

Anna lets out a small breath. She’s about to speak, but Marie holds up a hand to stop her.

MARIE (CONT’D): (firm) I know merely saying that doesn’t undo anything. But, I _have_ to livewith what I’ve done, and if there’s any way I can begin to make amends, I want to.

She becomes more passionate as she speaks, extending a hand toward Anna. Then she catches herself and pulls back.

MARIE (CONT’D): And if you want me out of your life for good, then, that’s what I’ll do. (bows her head)

Elsa purses her lips, and looks at Anna. Anna stares at Marie, sort of pitying.

ANNA: You really think a lot of yourself, don’t you?

Marie’s eyes flick up, cautious.

ANNA (CONT’D): I didn’t ask you to be my _hero_ \- (bitter, frustrated) I just needed a friend, more than anything.

Marie blinks, and lifts her head. She considers Anna with a clarity she’s never had before. Anna raises her chin to Marie, in a defiant way.

ANNA (CONT’D): But you never had enough of my heart to break it. Not _really._ I knew you for what - _a day_ , altogether?

Anna is smiling, slightly, with an edge.

ANNA (CONT’D): I mean, it was a _big_ day. You tried to kill us.

She glances at Elsa, and her expression softens. 

ANNA (CONT’D): And now it’s been another day, and you tried to save us. So, I guess, (deep breath) we’ll see who you are tomorrow.

Marie’s eyes are wet. She opens her mouth, but can’t begin to speak. In spite of everything, Anna beams at her, confirming.

PUNCH BOWL OLAF: _Wow._ (blubbering mess)Forgiveness! But it’s more than that, it’s - (sniffling) Oh, hang on, I’m gonna pull myself together and give you all a big hug! 

The slush-pile closes his eyes, concentrating hard, and crystalline magic begins swirling from within the punch bowl. Elsa, Anna, and Marie watch as the slush and punch, sticks and coal, and a carrot, rise a few feet into the air. Anna steps aside with the empty bowl, giving the mixture space as it reconstructs a familiar shape before them.

A snowman settles onto the mossy stone, giggling a bit as he does. He's the same form as before, now with pink flame-like swirls of punch mixed in with the snow, and an orange slice visible on his butt.

Almost as soon as he lands, Olaf jumps into Anna’s arms, making good on that hug.

OLAF: Anna!

ANNA: Olaf!

Anna pulls back a little to take in his new look.

ANNA: Or… _Samantha?_

OLAF: (serious consideration) Mmm, I think _Olaf’s_ got a nice ring to it.

ELSA: I think so, too.

Elsa comes over to embrace them both.

OLAF: Elsa! Oh, you guys.

Marie watches the sisters, their snowman, and their happiness. She grips the sword hilt with both hands, holding it to her chest in a shadow of a gesture to herself.

We hear the soft beginning of a Northuldra vuelie.

FADE TO: **THE CASTLE,** in the aftermath of the ashfall.

**EXT. ARENDELLE - EVENING**

Grand Gran wades up to the castle. Kristoff and Sven wait at the northern balcony overlooking the fjord, peering out with lanterns. The warm light illuminates Kristoff’s suit, a patch of grassy green against the gray rooftops and the dark smoke-filled skies. 

We stay at a middle distance as Grand Gran brings her hand up to the balcony, and Anna leaps straight into Kristoff’s arms. Elsa and Olaf are close behind her, and the family shares a group hug.

Elsa then turns, takes Marie’s hand and helps her onto the balcony. Marie gives Kristoff a small self-aware wave.

Sven bounds up to Marie and nuzzles her face while Kristoff appraises her from a distance, reproachful and wary. He glances at Anna, who shrugs as if to say “it’s a lot”. Olaf hops around, eager to explain.

We pan away from the balcony, sweeping around the castle exterior, as evening turns to night, and then to morning. The shadow of a giant passes over the walls, leaving for the south.

Vuelie rises in volume.

A new day breaks, castle servants open the shuttered windows, dusting ash off the sils.

We come around to the castle entrance as the doors open. Northuldra, the castle servants, and royal guardsmen walk out into the ash-covered courtyard, led by Yelana and Mattias, with Halima.

MATTIAS: (hangdog) Six months of sun. That’s all we got.

HALIMA: (teasing) And it wasn’t even _good_ sun - _winter_ sun.

YELANA: (resigned, but amused, like she’s speaking of a fickle loved one) She’ll come back. She did before.

Ryder stares at the shrouded sky. Honeymaren bumps his arm, and gives him a proud look. Another tribe member hugs his shoulder. Ryder grins, bashful.

CUT TO: **ARENDELLE STREETS** , where the boarded doors and windows start to tentatively open again. Arendellians and Northuldrans emerge to a world covered in downy gray ash, a few inches deep.

A child examines at their own ash-prints with curiosity. They stomp their feet in the fine grains.

CHILD: (reaching out a bare hand to touch the ash) It’s like snow.

MOTHER: (quickly pulling the child’s hand away) Don’t play with it!

CUT TO: **OLAF** , jumping into an ash bank with glee.

OLAF: I’m an ashman!

**EXT. ARENDELLE - LATER THAT DAY**

Clean up is underway. Guardsmen shovel ash out of the streets, dust clouds billowing in their wake. Queen Anna and Gerda go door to door, passing out handkerchiefs to elderly citizens, to protect their faces from the particles.

Elsa and Marie ride the nokk, at a leisurely pace, down the dusty waters from the castle. They pass by the docks where King Kristoff and Kai hand out extra shovels and brooms from Kristoff’s sled.

Kristoff sees Elsa and Marie, exchanges a glance with Sven, and brings the sled alongside the nokk.

KRISTOFF: (calling to them) Going somewhere?

Elsa and Marie look over in surprise. They’re in casual clothes - Marie in a loose blouse and pants, her right leg wrapped in bandage, and Elsa in an elegant ice dress. The nokk gives a little disdainful sniff to Sven and his harness. Sven rolls his eyes.

ELSA: Not far.

MARIE: Just out to the fjord -

KRISTOFF: (cutting her off, obnoxious) Yeah, sounds fun. Real _relaxing_ start to the weekend, after you dumped about a million tons of ash on us with _no warning,_ _at all._

Marie and Elsa exchange a guilty glance.

ELSA: Kristoff -

KRISTOFF: (on a roll) Earth is _slow._ Just _three days,_ or even _three months,_ isn’t going to much difference to a volcano, and it would have meant the world to us -

ELSA: _Kristoff,_ we know! We - (she brings the nokk closer to Kristofff and the dock) _that’s why_ we should be out of everyone’s way. People don’t need a magic spirit right now.

MARIE: (uncomfortable) Or a magic knight. I think I’ve done enough to Arendelle already.

Behind Kristoff, we see dock workers watching Elsa and Marie like they’re a pair of wild tigers. Kristoff's expression shifts, sympathetic, but still gruff.

KRISTOFF: Well, I don’t _._ You’re going to stay and you’re going to clean up your mess.

Elsa strokes the nokk’s mane, turning him to snow, and he jumps on the dock a little before Kristoff’s sled. Sven brings the sled to a stop.

MARIE: (brow knitting) And how can we do that?

KRISTOFF: We’re all shoveling. You like shovels, Marie? (holds one up)

MARIE: I’m acquainted.

ELSA: (to Marie, putting a hand on her knee) You should stay off your leg.

KRISTOFF: (light) Not a problem! Guess who’s got two wings and gets to _magically_ shovel my roof.

He points with the shovel to the castle behind them. Marie appraises the tall wooden facade, caked in ash. She then slides off the nokk, balancing on her left foot. Fiery wings unfold at her back, steadying her, and she takes the shovel.

MARIE: (smirking, spinning the shovel by the handle to rest on her shoulder) Enjoying this, _Your Majesty?_

KRISTOFF: (grinning) Not as much as Anna will.

Elsa looks between them, amused. 

ELSA: I suppose I too should acquaint myself with the shovel.

She gives the implement a skeptical look.

KRISTOFF: Actually, Elsa, I’ve got a _very_ _special destiny_ for you. (grinning more broadly)

ELSA: (arches eyebrow) Really?

KRISTOFF: Hang on, I need the thing.

Kristoff starts rummaging at the bottom of his sled. Marie glances at Elsa, and Elsa gives her a little shrug.

KAI: (while clinking noises are heard from the sled) Ah, you see, our entire freshwater supply - the rivers, wellwater, mountain ice- has been contaminated by the ash. And so -

KRISTOFF: Aha! Found it.

Kristoff holds up a silver medal on a ribbon, emblazoned with a snowflake sigil. Sven looks over his shoulder, and snorts in nostalgic recognition.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): Elsa, _by order of the King_ , you are now the official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer.

He gives the medal some spit and polish and then presents it to her.

MARIE: Is that a thing?

ELSA: (genuine, returning Kristoff’s grin) It _is_ , and I am honored.

CUT TO: **THE ICE MASTER AND DELIVERER** ,riding along the fjord in a large and elaborate ice sleigh, laden with pristine blocks of ice. Olaf sits up front beside her.

**EXT. ARENDELLE COUNTRYSIDE - DAY**

**DELIVERY MONTAGE:**

\- Elsa takes her nokk-drawn sleigh through a humble market town. Townsfolk in the middle of the ash clean up set down their shovels and brooms to crowd around the sleigh. Some take ice blocks off directly, others line up in front Elsa, holding out barrels to her, which she fills with water drawn from the ice blocks.

\- One man steps before her with a small keg. A little girl with a braid, no more than ten, peeks around his knees.

Elsa comes down from the sleigh. She gives the girl little runic crystals and guides her hand up to the nokk’s muzzle. He munches on the crystals, and the girl strokes his nose.

\- A little further inland, Elsa drives the ice sleigh to the Northuldra encampment in Arendelle. They’ve settled in the grassy hills, between where the castle ramparts taper off and the mountains begin, overlooking the rest of the kingdom. The grass is still dingy with ash, but the area around the encampment has been mostly cleared.

As the sleigh comes to a stop, Olaf hops out and skips a short distance - past Honeymaren and Ryder raising a wooden tent - over to where Yelana and Mattias are in the middle of a tense negotiation over a map, mediated by Anna.

MATTIAS: - asking too much of them. You are _guests_ on our land.

YELANA: (severe) You and your accursed dam squatted on our land for _thirty-four years._

MATTIAS: _Oh_ , you want to play the _dam card?_

ANNA: (to both of them) Look, the new treaty won’t be perfect, but it has to be something _everyone_ can live with. We can’t settle for anything less.

Anna rubs Olaf’s head affectionately, and looks up to see Elsa, in the middle of phasing ice to water for reindeer skeins. Elsa and Anna exchange a smile.

\- Cut to a patch of soil, rich and brown. A hand with a pink crystal ring crosses our view, placing a white seed in the dark earth, and then covering it with a shallow mound.

ANNA: Ready!

REVEAL: **ANNA** , smudged with dirt, standing up in a wide dirt plot. The plot

is circular, within a shallow stone border, and lined with rows and rows of little seed mounds fanning out from the middle.

Standing outside the plot is Elsa. She grins at Anna, takes a breath, and then brings her hands together to shoot a beam of magic into the air above them. The ice bursts into raindrops, showering over the garden. 

We see that the garden plot is in the center of the now-swept Arendelle village square - the place where their parents’ statues used to be, and where the Arendelle flag was before that.

Anna giggles, enjoying the rain falling over her face. A little sunshine, too - the smoke clouds above are starting to part.

Olaf, looking like a neapolitan snowman between mud stains and pink punch swirls, spies a worm poking out of the wet soil.

OLAF: (delighted) Whoa, look at you!

He gingerly picks the worm up, cooing.

OLAF: You so wiggly, like a little squishy snake baby! (holds the worm up to Elsa and Anna) Did you know that a million worms can poop seven hundred pounds in a single day!

ANNA: Huh, more than you’d think.

ELSA: (backing away, making a show of disgust) _Mmm_ _,_ please put him back, Olaf.

OLAF: (jumping closer to her, waving the worm around as he babbles) It’s _they,_ actually- all worms are both boys _and_ girls!

Elsa playfully tries to evade the worm.

OLAF: (chasing her) They also like piano music!

Elsa runs, in mock-fright of the worm, and Olaf toddles after her around the stone edge of the garden plot. Anna grins, and runs through the garden plot the other way to catch her. Elsa flicks her wrist, and ices over a puddle just as Anna’s foot steps on it. Anna slips, and falls in the dirt, laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for the Epilogue next week!
> 
> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKCrFrL1-s&ab_channel=SarahandtheSafeWord
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jrqrpBkapY&ab_channel=LizzieWest
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el-ZrpQybXM&ab_channel=ClaphamJunction


	14. Nothing Really Ends

EPILOGUE

**NOTHING REALLY ENDS**

FADE IN: **WATER AND SKY.** We’re looking out over the sea, on a calm, sunny day. We hear the soft rush of waves and gull cries nearby. The birds fly past our view, around tall white masts of ships and over a sandy shore.

**EXT. SOUTHERN COAST OF THE NORTHERN LANDS - DAY**

On the shallow beach, a light picnic is laid out on a checkered blanket - lemonade, sandwiches, and fruit. Anna sits on one side of the basket, leaning against Sven, with Kristoff, who lies back with his head resting on her lap. On the other side, Elsa and Marie sit together with their legs stretched out, Marie’s arm around Elsa’s shoulder. Elsa wears pants and a vest, Marie wears an elegant frost-spun dress - a faint glow insulating where the ice meets her skin. Slung around Marie’s waist is a new scabbard for the Firebird sword, and the bandages are off her leg. Olaf plays nearby - building a sandman. They're all laughing at something Anna just said.

ANNA: (regailing) Just saying, maybe I set a few giants on her -

MARIE: (voice crack) An _army._

ANNA: But, _but_ to be fair -I _didn’t_ freeze the entire kingdom when my sister introduced her girlfriend. (pointed smile to Elsa) _So._

__

ELSA: (eye-roll) You’re never letting us forget that, are you?

ANNA: Never _ever_. (to all) And _none of you_ get to say boo about my choice in romantic partners again, since - as we have all learned - Marie can seduce _anyone_ she just met.

Elsa blushes and Marie smirks while sipping lemonade.

KRISTOFF: Eh, _almost_ anyone. (letting Sven munch on berries right out of the basket)

ANNA: Aha, what?

Marie stops sipping with the glass still at her lips. She sets it down, wipes a bit of lemonade off her chin, and stares at Kristoff.

MARIE: (trying to parse) You… _knew?_

Anna looks between her husband and her ex, eyes narrow. Kristoff shrugs.

KRISTOFF: (to Marie) That you were flirting, yeah. Did you think you were being _subtle?_

Elsa raises an eyebrow at Marie.

ANNA: (to Marie, sputtering) _Really?_ (to Kristoff)Are you _serious?_

MARIE: (managing to speak) I - alright, in my defense, it was the result of a misunderstanding. I was only doing it to break up his marriage to Elsa.

Elsa and Kristoff both crack up.

ANNA: _What part of that is a defense?_

ELSA: (leaning on Marie’s shoulder, teasing) Oh, I think it’s sweet, you’d do all that for _me_.

KRISTOFF: (wiping his eyes) In _my_ defense, it was pretty funny - ow!

Kristoff’s head hits the blanket as Anna gets to her feet, her hands up in mock-surrender.

ANNA: That's it! I’m walking into the sea.

She performatively stomps toward the water.

MARIE: Can I finish your sandwich, then? (holding it up)

Anna turns sharply to meet Marie’s eyes - barely keeping a straight face.

ANNA: _No!_

Anna swipes back her sandwich, sits back down, and takes a pointed bite.

ANNA:(though a mouthful)I will finish my _own_ sandwich, _thank you_ \- 

MARIE: (matching her tone) - _Very much!_

ANNA: Shut up. (trying to be mad, and eat the sandwich, while fighting giggles)

Kristoff props himself up on his elbows, and exchanges a glance with Sven.

KRISTOFF: (speaking for Sven, aside) Do you feel like we’re missing something?

KRISTOFF: (as himself to Sven, while eating half-munched berries from the basket) Doesn’t bother me.

Elsa leans back on the checkered blanket, and lets out something between a small laugh and a sigh.

MARIE: (to Elsa, quiet) What?

ELSA: I’m just… happy to be here.

MARIE: So am I. (wry) And we got away with it, too.

Elsa chuckles softly.

MARIE (CONT’D): (looking out at the calm ocean waters) Honestly - after everything, I can’t believe we get to be done.

THE FIREBIRD: You _can_ believe, but it’s not true. You’re not _done_.

Everyone looks up to see the Firebird perched on the head of Olaf’s sandman.

OLAF: Well, of _course_ not. (snort laughs) Everyone knows that.

The Firebird cocks her head. Anna, Kristoff, Elsa, and Marie share a commiseratory glance.

MARIE: (slight smile) Yes, I guess it was a thoughtless thing to say. (to Elsa) Do you have an idea of when the northern forests will recover?

The Firebird flutters off the sandman, and up to Elsa. Elsa lets the creature perch on her hand.

ELSA: (stroking the Firebird’s chest) Yelana told me at least a year, before any humans can return. We’re looking at a hard winter.

ANNA: I can’t even think about winter. Arendelle barely has enough stock left for another month. 

KRISTOFF: (sitting up) _Actually,_ on that, I have news.

ANNA: You do?

KRISTOFF: (hesitating) Well - I was going to save it for after the picnic - but this morning we got some royal correspondence. 

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out an envelope with an official looking seal, already broken.

KRISTOFF (CONT’D): They heard we’re asking for aid, and they want to help. They’re offering food, lumber, wool -

ANNA: (gasping) Everything we need!

ELSA: Who is so generous?

KRISTOFF: (delicate) The letter is signed by the King and Queen of the Southern Isles.

The others all look to Marie. Her whole body is tense, her mouth is thin. She stares at the letter like it has teeth.

OLAF: _Whoa_. They must be the coolest, most understanding people! Marie, do you know them?

MARIE: (tight) They’re my parents.

Olaf’s brow furrows.

OLAF: Oh… Isn’t that good? Is that bad?

Elsa squeezes Marie’s hand. Marie breathes.

KRISTOFF: Like I said, it can wait.

MARIE: No. (firm) I’ll hear itnow.

ELSA: We’ll all hear it.

ANNA: Yeah, whatever that letter says, I’m sure it’ll be fine. (hearing how that sounds) I mean, even if it’s not _fine_ , that’s ok. (shrugs) So you’ve got family stuff.

ELSA: (gentle) If anyone can understand, it’s us.

Marie smiles with her mouth but not her eyes. She looks between Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa - wanting to trust them, but not quite believing.

OLAF: (thoughtful) Well, even if things are bad _,_ you already almost murdered us, and we almost crushed you with rocks. (optimistic) So at least friendship-wise, there’s nowhere to go but up!

MARIE: (chuckling) That’s true. (side-eye to the Firebird) Or, true _enough_.

The Firebird fluffs her feathers, a little ruffled, but doesn’t argue. Elsa raises her arm in a light, sweeping gesture, and the Firebird takes off from her hand. 

As Kristoff opens the letter and begins to read, we watch the Firebird fly up and away from the seashore. She soars high and flares up her wings, appearing for a moment as a gold spark in the blue heavens.

THE END

An AGAINST ME! cover of Elsa and Marie’s duet plays over the main credits.

  


**AFTER CREDITS**

No visual, only darkness, while the later credits roll. A piano plays the first note of an old song, and we hear a by now very familiar alto. 

MARIE: (V.O.) _I… am… pretty!_

\- Off-screen laughter, clapping.

MARIE (CONT’D): (V.O. wry, audibly winking) _Oh so pretty. I am pretty, and witty, and bright! And I pity any girl who isn’t_ with _me at night._

\- Howling laughter,we hear an appreciative “whoo!” and a “ _stop!_ ”

MARIE (CONT’D): (V.O.) _I am charming, oh so charming. It’s alarming how charming I feel! And so pretty, I hardly can believe I’m real._ (earnest, warm)

\- The Firebird flutters into view and settles in the darkness beside the credits, preening her feathers.

MARIE (CONT’D):(V.O.) _See the pretty girl in that mirror there?_

THE FIREBIRD: (looking around, pedantic) What mirror, where?

MARIE: (V.O. trilling over the Firebird) _Who can that attractive girl be?_

THE FIREBIRD: (tail flares up) Which? What? Where? Who?

MARIE:(V.O.) _Such a pretty face, such a pretty suit, such a pretty me._

\- The Firebird leaves in a huff.

MARIE (CONT’D): (V.O. triumphant) _I am stunning! And entrancing. Feel like running and dancing for joy. For I am such a pretty, wonderful… Oh._ (breaks singing, chuckles)

\- The music stumbles, awkward.

MARIE (CONT’D): (V.O.) Oh goodness, it _would appear_ I’ve forgotten the words. (audible smirk) Oh, well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening:
> 
> https://youtu.be/jzfnwbtuaAM
> 
> https://youtu.be/DMobKC-YINU
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKiX91tZv50&ab_channel=PCArtchie

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this fic, give some love to my primary beta Vtsuion! Her profile is here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VTsuion/pseuds/VTsuion
> 
> Here's a link to the official THSR tumblr, for all the illustrations, and more!: https://rebamacncheese.tumblr.com/
> 
> I dearly love the comments and kudos I've received, and will appreciate any you are inclined to leave.


End file.
